Speed (1936): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1936, Speed is an action, drama and romance film directed by Edwin L. Marin, running about 70 minutes. “A Mile a minute of fun and thrills!” — that tagline sets the tone.

What it’s about. Terry is the chief car tester for Emery Motors and Frank is an Engineer. Jane has just been hired to work in publicity. Frank and Terry both want Jane to be their girl. Terry has designed a new carburetor that should bring him fame and money, but he cannot get it to work correctly. Terry and Gadget have tested it for over a year, but it still is not perfected. Emery Motors assigns Frank to help Terry with the carburetor, but Terry is not happy because Frank is an Engineer and is also vying for Jane. They finish the carburetor, and to test it, they enter a car in the Indianapolis 500 race. Terry is not yet satisfied with the carburetor before the big race even though it has passed all the tests.

Who’s in it. Speed stars James Stewart as Terry Martin, Wendy Barrie as Jane Mitchell, Una Merkel as Josephine 'Jo' Sanderson and Weldon Heyburn as Frank Lawson, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 5.6/10, Speed has drawn a solid, mixed-to-positive response.

Where to watch. Streaming options change often. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Speed page.

If you liked it. Fans of Speed tend to enjoy The Dark Knight, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Inception and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.