Speed to Spare

In the 1930s and 40s, Richard Arlen was a star for tiny Pine-Thomas Productions. I am sure that his being a major stockholder in the company had nothing to do with it...or, perhaps, just a bit! Regardless, I've seen many of these films and they all were quickly made B-movies. None of them have been bad...though none really are very good either. "Speed to Spare" is a B with many of the usual cliches and a story that is very familiar.

Cliff (Arlen) is a race car driver when the show begins. But he has attitude and ends up getting fired...and goes to work for a friend at a trucking company. He's good at his job but he's also incredibly cocky and manages to make some enemies along the way. The worst is a driver who nearly ran him over. Cliff socks him and the guy spends much of the movie sabotaging Cliff's rigs...trying to get him killed. Can Cliff learn to be a team player AND survive in this film?

In so many ways, this film plays like a William Haines film of the 20s to early 30s. In other words, he plays a very talented guy who is also a fathead AND he tries to woo the girls. And, like in a Haines film, you expect Arlen's character to take his lumps and show himself to be a standup guy by the end of the picture. No surprises here, as I've seen it quite a few times before in other films.