Love, Speed and Thrills

Love, Speed and Thrills is a 1915 American short comedy film produced by Mack Sennett, directed by Walter Wright, starring Mack Swain, Chester Conklin and Minta Durfee, and featuring Billy Gilbert, Charley Chase and the Keystone Cops in supporting roles.^[1]

Love, Speed and Thrills centers on a domestic triangle involving Ambrose (Mack Swain), a devoted husband, his wife (Minta Durfee), and the antagonistic Mr. Walrus (Chester Conklin), characterized as a "wife-stealing wolf." The narrative follows the classical structure of early slapstick comedies, establishing the marital harmony between Ambrose and his wife before introducing the disruptive element of Mr. Walrus's romantic pursuit.

The film's comedic tension derives from Ambrose's efforts to protect his marriage from Mr. Walrus's advances, leading to a series of chase sequences that incorporate automobiles and other period transportation methods.

The Keystone Cops appear in supporting roles, contributing to the film's comedic chaos through their characteristic incompetence in maintaining public order. Their involvement escalates the central conflict beyond a simple domestic dispute into a broader community disturbance, a common narrative device in Sennett productions of this period.

The resolution follows conventional silent comedy structure, with the restoration of domestic order and the defeat of the antagonist's schemes, achieved through a combination of physical comedy, mistaken identity, and the inadvertent intervention of secondary characters.

• Mack Swain as Ambrose
• Minta Durfee as Ambrose's Wife
• Chester Conklin as Mr. Walrus
• Billy Gilbert
• Josef Swickard as Chief of the Keystone Cops
• Charley Chase

• Love, Speed and Thrills at IMDb
• The short film Love, Speed and Thrills is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.