Speed

... because when he joined the Army air corps and left Hollywood behind, shortly after having won the Best Actor Oscar and the year after having starred in two classics ("Shop Around the Corner" and "The Philadelphia Story"), he had to look back on the earlier part of his career and remember films like this one, realizing that he might go right back to such dismal roles if he returned to acting. After all, Ronald Reagan hit it big with "King's Row" in 1942, but his military service in WWII set his career back aways, maybe permanently.

Terry Martin (James Stewart) is a test driver for the fictitious Emery Automotive Company (a real auto company like GM or Ford would have sued for being named in this turkey), where he becomes romantically interested in in PR person Jane Mitchell (Wendy Barrie). But romantic and professional misunderstandings keep the two apart. Meanwhile, Martin is designing a new carburetor without an engineering degree so he isn't bothered by pesky things such as advanced mathematics or physics. Oh, and MGM decides that Una Merkel, always such a spritely comic presence, is best put to use by playing...a rather stern auto executive??? The auto company decides to put Martin's carburetor to the test by putting it in a car and entering it in the Indianapolis 500, thus producing an opportunity for some very pedestrian and boring back projection and stock footage.

The dialogue is lackluster, the comic parts aren't funny , and the dramatic parts are boring. And who does the film turn to for comic effect? - Ted Healy! The guy who did The Three Stooges the best favor ever by cutting them loose. He's not funny now and I doubt that he was funny then, but then MGM was never known for its comedy chops.

The one interesting thing about it? Early on there are a few minutes of actual footage of how automobiles were made in 1936. But then they could have stuck that in a newsreel and not wasted an hour of everyone's time.

After some minor, but impressive roles James Stewart was handed the lead in SPEED (1936). A typical 'B' programmer that the Major Studios used for actors to work the 'kinks' out before they were moved on to major projects. In this one Stewart plays TERRY MARTIN a talented test driver and inventor from the wrong side of the tracks. That means he is loaded down with all sorts of class warfare hang-ups that was supposed to endear him to the mid 1930s audiences. Actually in the 21st Century he just comes off as a ASS!

MARTIN is working on a new SUPER CARBERATOR with his side-kick 'Gadget' Haggerty (Ted Healy). He duels for creative control with Frank Lawson (Weldon Heyburn) educated engineer and top intellect of the company and also for the romantic interest of Jane Mitchell/Emery (Wendy Barrie). 'Jo' Henderson (Una Merkel) wants Lawson, but just does not know how to go about it. Fear not, true love will conquer in the end and automotive innovation, money and success will follow, with a happy ending.

The idea of a engineering miracle invention like the SUPER CARBERATOR was a typical one in the 1930s. Whether for Automobiles or Aero-Planes it promised a revolution in performance. Either by stretching a gallon of gas to a 100 miles or promising speeds (in the air) in excess of 500mph. The movies though were on the wrong track. In Germany and Sweden, fuel injection was shown as the way to go, not carburetors. Don't think so, just look under the hood of your Car!

Jimmy Stewart may be only an automobile tester right now, but he's got plans: "I'm not always gonna be a mug with cylinder oil in my hair," he vows.

While he spends his working days racing, flipping and crashing test cars, he is also working on a new carburetor design that he is sure will make his mark. Unfortunately, he's having trouble perfecting the carburetor…will the company bigwigs force him to take on help from the snooty engineering department?

Stewart's ambitions and frustrations make up one part of the plot; the other half of the story is a romantic drama involving publicity agent Wendy Barrie, newly promoted auto executive Una Merkel, and bland auto engineer Weldon Heyburn, whom Stewart considers a rival both professionally and romantically but who is really not a bad guy after all.

The first fifteen minutes of the picture offer a great tour of the automobile factory where these characters all work. It's basically a commercial for the auto industry, and a pretty neat look at the inside of a production plant, circa 1936.

With this cast, you would expect some good laughs or at least plenty of snappy dialog delivery; unfortunately, the tone is fairly grim and the screenplay pretty dry. We do get a bit of comic relief from Ted Healy as Stewart's friend and sidekick; but it sure seems a shame to have both Barrie and Merkel—two really excellent comic talents—go practically a whole movie with no wisecracks!

The production is slick and includes some impressive footage from testing grounds and racetracks. And Stewart definitely shows some charisma, even though his character is so stubborn and self-pitying that it's hard to root for him completely.

Overall, it's easy to watch but probably should have been better.

If one is asked to name the top 10 actors of the classic era, certain names always show up: Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, and James Stewart. Before Stewart became a megastar, though, he acted his way through small roles in big films - Rose-Marie, Born to Dance, Small Town Girl, Wife vs. Secretary, and a big role in a B film, Speed (1936). At 70 minutes, one wouldn't think it would be too long, but it is.

Speed is the story of a young man, Terry Martin (Stewart) who is the chief car tester for an automobile company. He has invented a carburetor which has not been refined or tested yet, but he has high hopes for it.

A young woman, Jane Mitchell (Wendie Barrie), arrives there to work in publicity, and both Terry and an engineer in the company, Frank (Weldon Heyburn) are interested in her. When Frank is assigned to work on the carburetor with Terry, Terry isn't happy about it.

And when he asks Jane to a dance and she refuses, saying she has too much work to do, and shows up with Frank (she's doing him a favor), then Terry is really unhappy and resentful.

Ultimately the company decides to enter the finished carburetor in the Indianapolis 500 race, even though Terry isn't satisfied that it's ready.

Lots and lots of racetrack footage, with Stewart playing a guy with a chip on his shoulder about his background.

Una Merkel has the role of a secretary who has become an executive and is in love with Frank. "I wonder," she says with a sigh, "if a woman should rise too high." Yeah, it's the '30s all right.

I love James Stewart and I really believed I could watch him in anything. This film is certainly of interest to see how he was brought along in his career, but that's about it.

This film was made well before Jimmy Stewart was a real headliner. And, the studios didn't yet know exactly what sort of caliber actor they had on their hands. So, they experimented with him in a variety of films--some successful, some not. This one falls in the middle and while isn't playing the sort of character you'd expect from Stewart, he isn't nearly so out of his element as he would be just a short time later in BORN TO DANCE--where he sings!!! This film is very very reminiscent of a Jimmy Cagney film from just a few years before, THE CROWD ROARS. Both are in fact pretty indistinguishable. Yes the plots differ, but they all just seem like a lot of race cars spinning around track that are obviously the result of rear projection and stunt men. Not both but not particularly good either.