Speed(1936).

Speed(1936). Action film with James Stewart and Wendy Barrie. The film begins at Emery Motors, where the companies publicist Jane Mitchell, takes a tour of the factory with the plant's engineer Frank Lawson and test driver Terry Martin. There Jane learns that Terry is trying to build a better/bigger/faster carburetor with "Gadget".

Frank and Terry, both invites Jane to the company dance, but she refuses at first saying that she has to work.. Frank tells her that he told Josephine that he couldn't go to the dance with her because he was taking Jane, she then agrees to go with him. At the dance, Terry is upset that Jane did not go to the dance with him.

Because of their hard feelings towards each other Frank and Terry, find it very hard to work together. After the trials, Terry does not think the carburetor is ready, but Frank insists that everything is all right and has Terry drive in the race.

Something goes wrong and "Gadget", is critically injured and Terry hospitalized with a concussion. Terry blames Jane, who now realizes that she is in love with him. He accuses her of only caring about the money and now wants nothing to do with her.

Soon Terry, is well and ready to go back to work, but no one wants to finance his project. Jane, then secretly asks her uncle the companies owner to back Terry's project and he agrees.

Later, at Medoc dry lake, everyone watches as Terry run the first half of the course. The rules of the contest say that he must finish within thirty minutes, which no one has done before.

Everyone rushes to the car and find Terry has almost been asphyxiated and Frank races him to the hospital. Will Frank's quick action save Terry's life?



Fun Fact:

Archive footage of an actual Indianapolis 500 race is included in the movie.

What is fun about this film.. is that it made before Jimmy Stewart, was a star and he plays a character you would never expect him to play.

Wendy Barrie (18 April 1912 – 2 February 1978). While still in her teens, she began pursuing a career as an actress, helped by her red-gold hair and blue eyes. Adopting the stage name Wendy Barrie (in honour of Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, who was said to have invented the name "Wendy"), she began her acting life in English theatre then in 1932 made her screen debut in the film, Threads, which was based on a play.

Barrie went on to make motion pictures for London Films under the Korda brothers, Alexander and Zoltan, the best-known was 1933's The Private Life of Henry VIII which starred Charles Laughton, Robert Donat, Merle Oberon, and Elsa Lanchester, Barrie portrayed Jane Seymour.

In 1934, she performed in the film, Freedom of the Seas and was contracted by Fox Film Corporation for a film directed by Scott Darling that was made in Britain.

The following year, she moved to the United States and made her first Hollywood film for Fox opposite Spencer Tracy in the romantic comedy, It's a Small World, followed by Under Your Spell.

Loaned to MGM, Barrie starred opposite James Stewart in the 1936 film Speed.

In 1939 she starred with Richard Greene and Basil Rathbone in the 20th Century Fox version of, The Hound of the Baskervilles and with Lucille Ball in, Five Came Back.

During the early 1940's, Barrie made several of The Saint and The Falcon mystery films with George Sanders.

She made her final motion picture in 1943.

Review: Five Came Back (1939)

Another great film from that golden year of 1939 that got overshadowed by the big guns of Gone with the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, The  Wizard of Oz and others. But this little taut thriller is really good and deserves to be on that list of 1939's best films. Twelve people are aboard Coast Air Line's flagship the Silver Queen enroute to South America when the airplane encounters a storm and is blown off course. The people include Lucille Ball as Peggy, a woman with a past. C. Aubrey Smith as Professor Spengler with his wife Martha (Played by Elizabeth Risdon). Also on board is Wendy Barrie as Alice, a secretary secretly eloping with her boss/fiancee Judson Ellis (played by Patric Knowles). Then there is the always reliable Allen Jenkins as racketeer Pete who is escorting Tommy, the son of his boss back to America. Also on board is John Carradine as Crimp, who is escorting the criminal Vasquez (played by Joseph Calleia) to stand trial for his crimes. And finally the pilots Bill (Chester Morris) and Joe (Kent Taylor).

The pilots are able to land the plane into a remote jungle, but it is populated with headhunters. The pilots have to repair the plane before they can try to take off and it's a race against time. As the headhunters drums signal they are preparing to attack. Days turns into weeks and most everybody pull their own weight except for Crimp and Ellis who become full on alcoholics. Everyone else remains strong and vigilant. The top performances are by Calleia who actually turns out to be a fair and actually likable man. He is at ease with the current situation because he knows once the plane if fixed, he is that much closer to being hanged for his crimes. Lucille Ball is very good in a rare dramatic role that makes her tarnished lady trying her best to be a better person, despite the resistance from others. Wendy Barrie is also very good as the lovestruck secretary who manages to put her alcoholic fiancee in check. Allen Jenkins is tops as Pete, who believes in honor, despite being on the wrong side of the law. Morris and Taylor are very good in their roles as the pilots. And C. Aubrey Smith is excellent as the Professor who is very knowledgeable about the current situtation. The final twist at the end is a shocker and makes one take value of life and choices. There are a few deaths before then but when the climax comes you will be completely enthralled.

The running time is only about 75 minutes long but it is a taut, tension filled 75 minutes. It's to the director's skill and credit that we actually never see the headhunters but we know they're coming thanks to those constantly banging drums. Five Came Back is a top notch thriller that deserves more attention now since it didn't receive it back then. A pleasing little B thriller from yesteryear.
B+
MOVIE CLIP FIVE WHO CAME BACK.