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.
st-shot
Bashful, stutterer Harold Meadows pens a book on what he knows about least, women. While taking the train into LA he befriends Mary Buckminister by rescuing her dog. At the publisher's the secretaries mock his work and the editor sends him packing. In the meantime he continues his pursuit of Mary but with the failure of his book he feels unfit to support her. When an underling suggests turning the love maker's guide into a satire they send him a check for three grand. Now all Harold has to do is get Mary back, preferably before her wedding service is complete.In Girl Shy, Lloyd's regular guy persona has the added handicap of stuttering (in a silent) which he mines into more than a few comic moments along with the abject shyness that provides him with a steady flow of humorous moments before the wildly slapstick finish. Lloyd's normal character allows for development and so his films can be a lot more patient than the other silent giants usually bent on rapid fire comedy. There's a nicely balanced romantic chemistry with Robyna Ralston as Mary (they'd make six films together) giving the film an added facet beyond producing belly laughs. The sweet touching relationship, complete with a Cracker Jacks box leitmotif allows the film to branch out from slapstick and give it a more human aspect. Along with some signature Lloyd pratfalls and one ingeniously stretched out climax that has the usually law abiding Harold committing one felony after the next to get to the church in time to stop the wedding Girl Shy is shy of little.
