Speed in the Gay Nineties

Speed in the Gay Nineties (1932)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Rather forgettable short from producer Mack Sennett takes place in 1890 as inventor Ed Martin (Andy Clyde) believes that one day man will be able to fly. The only problem is that everyone in town thinks he's crazy and they want to have him locked up in a mental hospital. Martin gets a chance to prove his predictions as being real when he enters a "horseless carriage" race and claims his car can go fifteen miles-per-hour. SPEED IN THE GAY NINETIES is a pretty bad movie and it's rather clear that the Mack Sennett company was on its last legs because this picture is extremely cheap looking and appears to have no screenplay at all even though four people are credited with it. There are all sorts of problems here but you know you're in trouble when the great Andy Clyde can't add anything to the picture. I will admit that there were a couple funny moments including the first time we see Clyde when he's got some wings and a tail on trying to take off. Outside of this the majority of the laughs are just downright flat with nothing working. This includes the entire drive sequence at the end and an earlier scene where a big chase is going on. The movie runs a tad bit shorter than most two-reelers from this era but even if they had chopped ten-minutes out this thing would still have been flat.