JinRoz
For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!
Bluebell Alcock
Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
zardoz-13
The bespectacled comedian Harold Lloyd was one of America's three premiere silent movie clowns. Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton were the other two, and they are remembered more than Lloyd. Nevertheless, throughout sheer perseverance, Lloyd carved out a reputation for himself and his comedies that ranks him alongside these two cinematic titans. Mind you, Lloyd made more movies than both Chaplin and Keaton. Primarily, Lloyd had his own trademark physical appearance that compared with Chaplin's 'Little Tramp' and Keaton's stone-faced every man. Lloyd adopted circular spectacles and a straw hat, and he played clean-cut, average guys out to better themselves. In "Girl Shy," Lloyd plays Harold Meadows, an assistant seamstress who is deadly afraid of women. Any time that he finds himself in the company of dames, he lapses into a stutter that only the sound of a whistle can release him. This is just one of the many sight and sound gags that proliferate in this hilarious silent epic. When he isn't sewing, Harold is typing a book about how to make love to women. Each chapter has a different kind of women, i.e., a vamp or a flapper, and his way of winning them over to him. Eventually, Harold finishes the book and leaving the small town of Little Bend, California, and travels by train to Los Angeles. Along the way, he meets a beautiful lady, Mary Buckingham, who is the daughter of a wealthy family, on the train. They become friends during the trip because Mary has a small dog that the train refuses to transport. Before Mary boarded the train, a bystander told her about the railroad's policy of prohibiting the transport of pets. As the train is pulling away from the depot, Mary's small dog jumps off the train. As the train leaves, Harold borrows a passenger's walking cane, snags the little beast by its collar, and hoists him aboard. He smuggles the doggie into the passenger car and gives it to Mary. Unable to find a seat, he winds up sitting next to the heroine because the train went through a curve and tumbled him into the seat next to her. When the conductor approaches them to punch their tickets, Harold quickly sneaks the doggie into his traveling valise. What Harold doesn't know is that an old biddy sitting behind him has pushed his valise aside and put her valise where his was. Consequently, our hero sticks the dog in the old lady's valise. When the pooch starts to bark and arouse the conductor's suspicions, Harold imitates the canine and convinces the conductor that he is barking.
Later, when they arrive in Los Angeles, Harold leaves a copy of his manuscript with a publisher and returns to Little Bend. Meantime, a low-life suitor for Mary's affections, Ronald DeVore (Carlton Griffin of "It Happened One Night") proposes to her, and they set a marriage date. Not long afterward, we learn that DeVore is already married and has told his wife that his family refuses to meet her. As a result, she has to wait for him to notify her that his folks are willing to accept her into their clan. Mary wants to see Harold again, and she drives around Little Bend hoping to spot him. DeVore and her break down during one of these trips, and DeVore leaves her with their automobile stuck in the road to find a tow-truck. Nearby the scene of their accident, Mary decides to get out and wander around. She sees water lilies in a creek, steps onto a floating pier, and it bumps into a boat. Moments before as he was sitting in the same boat underneath a bridge that Mary crossed, Harold saw her reflection in the water and imagined that he was dreaming about her. Now, the little platform bumps into Harold's boat, and Mary falls into the boat. Harold's father Jerry Meadows (Richard Daniels of "The White Sheep") spots Harold speaking with Mary as he walks along the road. Naturally, he is surprised to see his son getting chummy with a girl. DeVore shows up moments later, and he isn't amused. He punches out Jerry, and Harold punches him out. Mary and DeVore leave, and Mary says she wants to see him when he comes to town. The next time that Harold comes to Los Angeles, our stuttering protagonist learns that the publisher has no use for his book and plans to send him an official rejection slip. An assistant to the publisher informs him that everybody in the office howled at the antics in Harold's book, and the publisher changes his mind and sends Harold an advance amounting to three thousand dollars. By this time, Harold believes himself to be a loser and discourages Mary about any relationship that they might have had, until he finds out that he is going to be published. Furthermore, he learns to his chagrin that Mary plans to marry DeVore. Heart-broken with grief and jealousy, Harold finds out that DeVore is currently married when his wife comes into his father's sewing shop. Immediately, Harold rushes off to Los Angeles and plans to save Mary from this wolf who is clearly out to get her family's fortune.The finale of "Girl Shy" shows out hero commandeering virtually every mode of transportation to get to the marriage ceremony before it is too late to save Mary. The outlandish antics involved in switching from cars, to horses, to different cars, and then a trolley car highlight this fast and furious race against time that Harold makes. Of course, he arrives on time to rescue Mary. Altogether, "Girl Shy" boasts lots of sight gags that will split your sides and keep you laughing throughout its snappy 87 minute running time.
rodrig58
Almost 100 years since it was made (93 more exactly), and this film is still full of freshness. There are many comic situations to be seen in it. Also very poetic, it's Harold Lloyd! Full of spectacular and very dangerous scenes. The actors are simply charming, the film moves in great shape. Perhaps the author of the script for "The Graduate", with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, was inspired by this film, the story is somehow similar.
Nicole Emmons
Many black and white silent movies have gone by the way side. As far as appreciation goes in this day and age they deserve a whole lot more than we give them credit for. Mostly because these movies require a lot more effort into consideration of the plot and witty humor. They are so simple at their core though... like this movie for example is so beautifully done because its so innocent. No pretentious special effects or made up stars just a pure scene unedited and raw, giving it a lot of organic texture and feel. The scene where Harold Meadows is writing his book and begins his flashback with the "vampire" woman is absolutely adorable, such delicate lighthearted humor is a breath of fresh air in an entertainment industry beginning to rely on shock value, ratings and financial success. Harold Lloyd is an underrated silent film actor for sure, silent movies would not be complete without the star to make them even more endearing than before and Lloyd certainly articulates his charming warmth and melodramatic expressions to an audience young and old in a way that we can all understand how the character is feeling.
Steffi_P
Harold Lloyd, "third genius" of silent comedy, made his independent debut with Girl Shy after years at Hal Roach studios, Hollywood's premier comedy factory. He chose to take with him his leading lady Jobyna Ralston and his directorial team Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor. However the resulting picture is something of a departure from his earlier work – or, at least, it is a development of it. Girl Shy is less about knitting together gag after gag, taking instead the "story first" approach of Charlie Chaplin's full-length movies.And as with Chaplin, the story though emotionally sincere is never allowed to smother the comedy, and quite often a quick joke is used great effect, puncturing a romantic moment before it becomes too sentimental. The story is a little illogical at times – the flashbacks to Harold's "research" for his book seem at odds with the lack of confidence after which the whole picture is named. But those little vignettes offer some great satire on the romantic melodramas of the era, and generally the whole thing is put together with such a fine balancing of romance and humour that it moves along without the deficiencies ever becoming too apparent.Directors Taylor and Newmeyer have a great dynamic, it seems trying to make their styles match even though they handle different sections of the movie. Sam Taylor, (who did most of the comedy) uses a lot of close-up gags here, such as the business with the mousetrap, where some little detail will lead to some larger scale shenanigans. And similarly Newmeyer is putting in a lot of discreet close-ups for his non-comedy scenes, such as the shots of the crackerjack box that serve as a symbol for Ralston's memory of Harold. Together the two directors give the whole thing a kind of visual coherence that makes it all seem smooth and flowing. Newmeyer is on particularly fine form here, directing with a subtlety that allows the entire river meeting scene to be played out with no intertitles.Lloyd's features typically have a fast-paced editing pattern, largely to facilitate the often breakneck pace of his comedy sequences. The dash to the church which forms the finale of Girl Shy is perhaps the most brilliant of any Lloyd picture, mainly because of the rapidity with which it moves from one gag to the next. The way Harold leaps from, say, the back of a car onto a horse is funny in itself – as well as an impressive stunt. And yet, unlike his previous feature Safety Last!, which had quick edits throughout, Girl Shy also features a few longer takes in the romantic scenes, allowing the camera to linger over a facial expression.Which brings me onto Harold himself. He really makes the most of these close-ups. When he receives the bad news over his book, the camera holds him for a lengthy moment, and he really acts. He stays within the parameters of that comical character, but he emotes with complete dignity. Ultimately, Girl Shy is the complete realisation of the Harold Lloyd comedy character that would stick with him in future features (barring one or two deviations). Even though the story may be a little inconsistent as to exactly how "girl shy" Harold really is, this is the first movie to show him not only as a familiar, sympathetic figure, but one who is at risk of being hurt emotionally, not just by the dangers of his cliffhanging slapstick.
