Girl Shy (1924)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Directors:

Fred C. Newmeyer
Sam Taylor

Writers:

Thomas J. Gray (titles)
Sam Taylor (story)

Release Date:

20 April 1924 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Romance | Family

Plot:

Harold Meadows (Lloyd) is a shy, stuttering bachelor working in a tailor shop, who is writing a guide book for other bashful young men...

Plot Keywords:

Stuttering | Fantasy Sequence | Tailor | Horse | Trolley

Cast

Harold Lloyd	...	Harold Meadows, The Poor Boy
Jobyna Ralston	...	Mary Buckingham, The Rich Girl
Richard Daniels	...	Jerry Meadows, The Poor Man
Carlton Griffin	...	Ronald De Vore, The Rich Man

Runtime:

82 min | USA:80 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Filming Locations:

Culver City, California, USA

Company:

The Harold Lloyd Corporation

Trivia:

Many of the exterior shots were filmed on Harold Lloyd's massive estate, GreenAcres, in Beverly Hills.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Mary's car goes off the road and in a close shot she takes out the crackerjack box, there is a reflection in the side of the car (bottom left) of a pair of legs standing nearby, then walking away.

Movie Connections:

References Trifling Women (1922)

Harold Lloyd in his first independent production!

Girl Shy, released in 1924 has legendary Harold Lloyd playing Harold Meadows, a man who is extremely shy of girls and won't get near them because of his weaknesses towards girls. Harold plays a shy tailor's apprentice who in his lonely evenings, writes a book called The Secret of Love Making, which he claims is based on his very own experiences even though he still knows, he'll never be able to get rid of shyness towards girls. Harold then sets off to a publishing company to publish his book. However, on the train he sits next to a very sophisticated Mary Buckingham (Jobyna Ralston). Harold then experiences something about love when he gets to the point where he knows that Mary just might love him. Later on a Ronald DeVore who is played by Carlton Griffin pursues Mary romantically. However, Mary can never stop thinking of Harold. Later after DeVore tries to get Mary to like him, Mary then asks DeVore to let her off at Harold's hometown of Little Bend. And just by chance, Mary gets together with Harold again. While Harold writes his book, Lloyd creates some great fantasy sequences such as the "My Vampire" sequence and the "My Flapper" sequence. Harold also filmed a third fantasy sequence, which he later discarded after a preview. What outrages Harold later is that his publishing company does agree to publish his book but their wish is to change the title to The Boob's Diary.

Finally, the best part of the film comes. In later years, Harold was not satisfied with the entire film but he absolutely loved the final part of the film, which was of course the race-to-the-rescue sequence and it remains the most brilliant chase of the entire silent film era. This proved to Harold that a race-to-the-rescue was pretty much vital in a film comedy and so he used this method in For Heaven's Sake (1926), The Kid Brother (1927), and to a greater extent in Speedy (1928). Harold uses every imaginable gag for the sequence-- Harold goes by car, tram and finally horse and cart to stop Mary from marrying DeVore. It is a superb lengthy sequence and you can never get sick of the film. Harold performs all of the stunts in the film except for the reverse shots of Harold on the horse and cart and the part where he jumps off the buckboard onto one of the horses after one of the wheels falls off. A professional stuntman who was experienced with horses did those stunts and Harold used a double because Harold also of course had to direct the sequence and Harold was also the producer of the film so Harold did not want to take any risks. Harold's most famous stunt in the film is when Harold travels through town really fast on a streetcar and then the streetcar goes so fast that the connective pole gets disconnected from the power line and so Harold climbs onto the top of the tram to fix and he attaches it successfully but the streetcar goes ahead like hell and when it turns at the corner Harold grabs the pole and hangs off it for a little while before letting himself go and falling into a passing automobile. The entire chase is sensational and the film itself deserves a 10 out of 10. Lloyd was justly proud of the chase that he included the whole thing in his compilation Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy. The chase influenced the chariot race in the original Ben-Hur a year later in 1925 and final bit where Harold tries to explain why he has barged in so forcefully at the wedding and then lifts Mary onto his back and the two elope influenced a film forty years later-The Graduate (1967).

Girl Shy was also a tremendous box office success grossing $1,729,636 and it's one of Harold Lloyd greatest achievements. Many innovations that Harold created for the film can still be seen being used in modern films. Innovations such as when the horse and cart is traveling down the road and the cameraman is placed in a manhole to achieve a great camera shot of the cart going over the top of the camera. Harold Lloyd was a master filmmaker and a brilliant comedian and Girl Shy is certainly one of his best. Despite the excellent chase sequence in the last part of the film, Girl Shy moreover entertains film buffs for its diverse scenes where Harold imagines he is a real lady's man in the "my vampire" and "my flapper" fantasies which Harold's character illustrates in his book. The "my flapper" scene has Harold's screen character in a different mood. It just went to show how many different characters Harold Lloyd could portray. He plays the scene with calm distress in which he eventually takes out his anger by 'applying my cave man methods' when he takes of his flapper's shoe and gives her a spanking.

Harold Lloyd in later years had reservations about the film in its entirety. He didn't think highly of his stutter character, however, he was extremely proud of the chase, which is one of silent cinema's most breathtaking sequences.