GIRL SHY (directors: Fred Newmeyer/Sam Taylor; screenwriters: Sam Taylor/Ted Wilde/Tim Whelan/Tommy Gray; cinematographers: Walter Lundin/Henry Kohler; editor: Allen McNeil; music: Robert Israel; cast: Harold Lloyd (Harold Meadows), Jobyna Ralston (Mary Buckingham), Richard Daniels (Jerry Meadows, tailor), Carlton Griffin (Ronald De Vore), Nola Luxford (Rich Man’s Wife); Runtime: 88; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Harold Lloyd; TCM; 1924-silent)
“It’s a modestly entertaining physical comedy with a spectacular classic closing chase scene, and with Lloyd doing all the stunts.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
This is the first film made for Harold Lloyd’s own production company and is directed by Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor. The writers include Taylor, Ted Wilde, Tim Whelan and Tommy Gray. It’s a modestly entertaining physical comedy with a spectacular classic closing chase scene, and with Lloyd doing all the stunts. The pic was a commercial success and Lloyd grossed over two million dollars.
In the small town of Little Bend, Harold Meadows (Harold Lloyd) is a tongued-tied tailor’s apprentice unable to speak to women without stuttering, who writes a How-To book, entitled The Secret of Making Love, and ventures by train to LA to try and get the book published so he can become rich and famous. After her car breaks down in Little Bend, the wealthy heiress, Mary Buckingham (Jobyna Ralston), takes the train back to LA and must sneak her pet dog on. Harold rescues the dog from being left behind and on the ride wins the heart of Mary, as he talks for the first-time with a woman without stuttering. Harold hopes to get the book published and become someone worthy of Mary. But when his book with one chapter entitled ‘My Vampire,’ in which Harold is the indifferent lover and the other chapter ‘My Flapper’ in which he adopts the caveman approach, gets ridiculed by the publisher’s office staff and rejected by the publisher as a joke, and as a result Harold stops seeing Mary. But when he learns the publisher decided to publish such a funny book under the title of The Boob’s Diary, with an advance of $3,000, and that Mary is about to marry Ronald De Vore (Carlton Griffin), a bigamist, he rushes to LA to save her from a bad marriage. Since he misses the train, he finds himself going on a daredevil ride using stolen cars, a motorcycle, a fire-engine, a horse cart, a horse, and a trolley car to get to the church on time to stop the wedding.
REVIEWED ON 3/26/2014 GRADE: B+
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
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