in spectacles and soundtracks Decades before a fictive kid named Harry Potter made round eyeglasses an important element of action-nerd chic, there was Harold Lloyd. However, Lloyd was a real person who made over 200 films, but his trademark spectacles were as much a part of his act as were Chaplin’s cane and baggy pants.
After beginning his career as a Chaplin manque, Lloyd came into his own in the 1920s with a spectacular series of action comedies, including The Freshman and Safety Last! The latter film would provide one of cinema history’s most enduring–and quoted–images, when Lloyd goes into hand-to-hand combat with a huge clock atop a building. Although Lloyd has been overshadowed by Chaplin and Keaton, his legacy will be celebrated for the Jackie Chan generation this weekend at the North Carolina Museum of Art, when Speedy (1928) will be shown outdoors. A time capsule of Roaring Twenties New York, Lloyd stars as a plucky lad who bounds through a day that takes us from Coney Island to Yankee Stadium (with Babe Ruth) to a ride on the city’s last horse-drawn trolley.
Redoubtable silent film accompanists Alloy Orchestra will be on hand with one of their reliably lively, percussion-based scores. —David Fellerath
Speedy, accompanied by Alloy Orchestra, will be shown this Saturday, Aug. 7, 8:30 p.m. at the N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh. Tickets are $12, $9, $5. For more information, visit www.ncartmuseum.org .