Summary
A pork-baron paterfamilias, nostrils still flaring with hog-yard steam, flaunts his new-money palace while his silk-draped wife asphyxiates on the very scent of bacon; between them stands Susan—finishing-school sculpture, marble-eyed, yawning at life—until the father imports ‘Speed’ Cannon, a human comet in plus-fours, to jolt her pulse. A burglar’s intrusion lets Speed play Hercules, yet Susan’s lashes barely flicker; nevertheless the man of momentum pursues, proposing at racetrack tempo, spiriting her from a champagne soirée, negotiating elopements that collapse like soufflés, and igniting market wars père can’t resist. Misdelivered billet-doux, an empty-chamber suicide farce, and a maternal tornado climax in a broker’s office where vows are swapped amid ticker tape, sealing the union just as pork futures rocket—money, matrimony, and mania fused in one breathless reel.
Synopsis
Father made millions in pork, and was proud of the fact, but his society loving wife wanted to forget that there was ever such a thing as a pig. Consequently she sent her daughter Susan off to a finishing school where she absorbed a blasé manner. Father was anything hut pleased with the change. One day at the club father came in contact with "Speed" Cannon and was so impressed with the effect his presence had upon people, that he determined to try an experiment. He visits "Speed's" office and on a pretext gets him to his palatial home. As they arrive a burglar has terrorized its women occupants. "Speed" proves a hero, but Susan evinces only a passing interest. "Speed," however, is smitten with the languorous Susan, and welcomes the opportunity of seeing her again. "Speed's" courtship is as fast as he is himself. After two weeks he manages to smuggle Susan away from a reception in honor of Count Englantine. He secures her consent to their marriage, but she shows so little interest "Speed" is nonplussed. She is discovered by mother, who whisks her to the Count, who proposes. Susan puts him off. "Speed" again finds her and proposes that they elope. Susan thinks that would be romantic. Father lends his aid; but it is unavailing, for Susan is so slow that mother discovers her. "Speed" is all broken up, but father has a tip on the market, and his woes arc forgotten as he talks over the details with "Speed." Next day "Speed" starts father's stock movement. Susan dismisses the Count and writes "Speed," declaring her love. The maid gets the notes mixed. "Speed" is broken-hearted and sends an attendant for a gun, while the Count dashes to Susan. She quickly disillusions him and dashes in search for "Speed." She finds him in time to prevent his killing himself, with an empty gun. She whisks him back to the office. Father hikes to the office with a minister. Mother, becoming suspicious, visits the office where the ceremony is being performed. Father holds her long enough to have Susan and "Speed" married. Mother is sore until she learns father's fortune has been augmented and accepts "Speed" because he made it possible.
Review Excerpt
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The first miracle of High Speed is that it survives at all: a 35-mm ghost printed on volatile nitrate, smelling faintly of abattoir and gardenia, somehow eluded the landfill of forgotten flapper flicks. Once the lights die and the electric organ growls, the second miracle hits—this thing moves. Not merely in the pedestrian sense of chase-cuts and locomotive gags, but with the vertiginous velocity of a society that has just discovered adrenaline. Forget the polite, tea-set comedies of 1919; by ..."
