allisonbazanos
Although usually I'm not a fan of silent films, I found Girl Shy to be funny and a good romance story. Even though the beginning started out a little slow, by the end I couldn't stop watching! A classic everyone should watch in my opinion.
byufan-05531
The storyline is a bit familiar to modern-day audiences. After having fallen in love with a girl despite his extreme shyness towards them, Harold finds that he cannot make her happy and decides to break things off. Once he finds out that she is getting married to a total jerk who is already married, he goes to break it up at the altar before it is too late. While a very common story still seen throughout romantic comedies today, Harold Lloyd's sophisticated storytelling style and frequent use of gags makes the film anything but familiar.While the chase scene is most remembered from this film, Lloyd is able to weave this masterful chase scene into a well structured narrative. His portrayal of a shy young man is realistic, comedic, and evokes sympathy from the audience. His romance with the rich girl is not overdramatic but natural and even cute. We really believe that these two people are in love even after a short two hour train ride. This movie's strength is in its ability to avoid cliche tropes and overly dramatize the romance instead leaving the out of this worldness to the gags and end chase scene instead of the characters. Girl Shy is Harold Lloyd building on his previous work to combine a well constructed story with his unique style of stunts that make us as the audience buy the reality of these impossible stunts while still respecting the title character as an everyday man just like us.
d-touponse
This movie was absolutely amazing for a silent film. At first I didn't encourage his book because it almost degraded women for loving men who don't treat them right. I enjoyed how after he'd actually been with a woman his whole perspective changed. I thought the film was well in order and I had my eyes on each scene the entire time. Although, it felt dragged out when he was trying to make it to the ceremony on time. He must have drove every vehicle there was in that time period. The ending was beautiful and well worth the long chase. The lighting was well done and for such an ancient movie the chases done in the vehicles were well put together and smooth. Overall this movie was a delight to watch, it was humerus, and it was cute.
ackstasis
I must admit that I completely underestimated this film. Though I had enjoyed the Harold Lloyd features that I'd seen previously, somehow I expected 'Girl Shy (1924)' to be a rather tame slapstick comedy. Never would I have anticipated a film of such staggering comedic brilliance, a romantic tale with enough emotional pangs to please Chaplin, and yet an astonishing climactic action sequence that would make Keaton proud. Harold Lloyd, the oddly-neglected genius of 1920s comedy, here justifies his incredible popularity with silent cinema audiences {in fact, he enjoyed more commercial success than both of his famous contemporaries}. The film was the first to be produced under Lloyd's newly-founded production company, The Harold Lloyd Corporation, but both Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor {who had previously collaborated to direct the legendary 'Safety Last! (1923)'} returned to helm this latest production. 'Girl Shy' is what Lloyd liked to call a "character story," as opposed to a "gag film," though the plot does an exceptional job of retaining room for significant elements of both.'Girl Shy' tells the story of Harold Meadows, a bespectacled young apprentice at a tailor shop who stutters uncontrollably at the sight of a beautiful woman, and yet, ironically, fancies himself experienced enough to write a best-selling instructional manual on how to "make love" with the opposite sex. When Harold unexpectedly meets the girl of his dreams, a modest beauty from a wealthy family, his views on woman suddenly do a somersault, and it's going to take every ounce of his energy to prevent his newfound sweetheart from marrying a coarse and arrogant bigamist. The first half of 'Girl Shy' plays out like a typical silent romantic comedy, with the Harold boarding a train at his hometown of Little Bend to present his completed book to a city publisher. A pretty girl, Mary (Jobyna Ralston), despairs at not being allowed to bring her pet dog aboard, but Harold selflessly aids her in concealing the pooch, even barking frantically and devouring dog biscuits in order to maintain the deception.After the publishers laugh at the ineptitude of his work, Harold dejectedly decides that he's not worthy of such a lovely woman, and, in the film's most heartbreaking sequence, pretends that their entire romance had been nothing but a callous experiment. Mary reluctantly agrees to marry her long-time suitor (Carlton Griffin), a rich and conceited already-married man, and so Harold, upon hearing the announcement, frantically attempts to prevent the wedding. It is then that the film truly kicks into full stride, temporarily forgetting any notions of romance and embarking on a frenetic cross-country excursion that is, without a doubt, one of the most exhilarating sequences of the silent era. Hijacking every known means of locomotion – a car, a horse, a tram, a motorcycle, a horse-and-carriage – Harold storms towards the wedding ceremony with all his might, confronted by every misfortune imaginable and then defeating it with his incredible resourcefulness and quick-thinking. Storming into the wedding like Benjamin Braddock in 'The Graduate (1967),' Harold lifts the bride over his shoulder and escorts her towards a lifetime of happiness. He's certainly earned it.
