The Bicycle Flirt (1928) User Reviews

A Girl finds flirting with a man on a bicycle can have unintended consequences

[Torontofilmsociety · 8/10 · 13 August 2008]

This well-made short is typical of the high standard of comedy films in the late 1920s. Photography is excellent, the pacing fast and it's full of extraordinary stunts that looked like no other-and no computer enhancement! A pretty girl (Lombard) has a boyfriend which is not up to her parent's standards by any means. They try to persuade her to ditch the loser but she is determined to keep the sad sack. So when she see an even bigger loser bicycling by she devises a plan to make her boyfriend look good in comparison. She drops her hankie in the hopes that the gallant man may return it to her-he does and the flirt is on. Great bicycle stunts ensue including some great scenes where he just lightly holds on to the side of the car so he can carry on his wooing with his feet up on the car-the bicycle just propels itself! They come up to a pole in the road and the father tries to aim the car so as to sideswipe him off-he lets go at the last second quickly swerves around and is back with the car-feet up again. Eastman House has a great 35mm print. Interesting to see Lombard way before her stardom and some great comedy by some relatively unknown actors. Highly recommended.