
Ted Wilde, Harold Lloyd Corporation, Paramount, 1928, Lloyd's last silent feature. Speedy, a soda jerk and Yankees fan, tries to save his girl's grandfather and the last horse-drawn streetcar in New York. Shot on location in Manhattan and at Coney Island, with Babe Ruth in a cab to Yankee Stadium; the streetcar chase used a real car on real tracks. National Film Registry, 2005. The city is not a back lot: elevated trains, crowds, and the amusement park are the other actors. Ann Christy is the girl.
Lloyd's last silent, and New York is the other performer. A real streetcar on real tracks, Babe Ruth in the back of a cab, Coney Island with the crowds left in. The chase through Manhattan traffic is the set piece. The city was not asked.