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IMDbPro

Girl Shy

  • 19241924
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 27m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
3.4K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
55,573
16,933
Nola Luxford, Dorothy Dorr, Judy King, Priscilla King, Harold Lloyd, and Jobyna Ralston in Girl Shy (1924)
ComedyRomance
A shy young man who can't talk to women ventures out to publish a book full of fictional conquests, but finds true love along the way.A shy young man who can't talk to women ventures out to publish a book full of fictional conquests, but finds true love along the way.A shy young man who can't talk to women ventures out to publish a book full of fictional conquests, but finds true love along the way.
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
3.4K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
55,573
16,933
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Directors
      • Fred C. Newmeyer
      • Sam Taylor
    • Writers
      • Sam Taylor(story)
      • Ted Wilde(story)
      • Tim Whelan(story)
    • Stars
      • Harold Lloyd
      • Jobyna Ralston
      • Richard Daniels
    Top credits
    • Directors
      • Fred C. Newmeyer
      • Sam Taylor
    • Writers
      • Sam Taylor(story)
      • Ted Wilde(story)
      • Tim Whelan(story)
    • Stars
      • Harold Lloyd
      • Jobyna Ralston
      • Richard Daniels
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 73User reviews
    • 16Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • Photos19

    Nola Luxford and Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924)
    Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924)
    Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924)
    Harold Lloyd, Jobyna Ralston, and Charles Stevenson in Girl Shy (1924)
    Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston in Girl Shy (1924)
    Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924)
    Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924)
    Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924)
    Judy King and Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924)
    Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924)
    Richard Daniels and Harold Lloyd in Girl Shy (1924)
    Nola Luxford, Judy King, Priscilla King, Harold Lloyd, and Jobyna Ralston in Girl Shy (1924)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Harold Lloyd
    Harold Lloyd
    • The Poor Boy - Harold Meadows
    Jobyna Ralston
    Jobyna Ralston
    • The Rich Girl - Mary Buckingham
    Richard Daniels
    • The Poor Man
    Carlton Griffin
    Carlton Griffin
    • The Rich Man
    Ethel Broadhurst
    • Publisher woman
    • (uncredited)
    Sammy Brooks
    • Short Train Passenger
    • (uncredited)
    Billy Butts
    Billy Butts
    • Little Boy
    • (uncredited)
    Joe Cobb
    Joe Cobb
    • Boy in Tailor Shop
    • (uncredited)
    Jackie Condon
    Jackie Condon
    • Boy Having Pants Sewn
    • (uncredited)
    Mickey Daniels
    Mickey Daniels
    • Newsboy
    • (uncredited)
    Andy De Villa
    • Traffic Cop
    • (uncredited)
    Dorothy Dorr
    • Girl with the Curls
    • (uncredited)
    Betsy Ann Hisle
    Betsy Ann Hisle
    • Little Girl
    • (uncredited)
    Wally Howe
    Wally Howe
    • First Bootlegger
    • (uncredited)
    Judy King
    Judy King
    • Flapper
    • (uncredited)
    Priscilla King
    • Girl
    • (uncredited)
    Gus Leonard
    • Bearded Train Passenger
    • (uncredited)
    Nola Luxford
    • Vamp
    • (uncredited)
    • Directors
      • Fred C. Newmeyer
      • Sam Taylor
    • Writers
      • Sam Taylor(story)
      • Ted Wilde(story)
      • Tim Whelan(story)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Many of the exterior shots were filmed at Holmby House, the massive estate owned by Arthur Letts, owner of Bullock's Department Stores. Harold Lloyd did not move into his Green Acres estate in Beverly Hills until 1929, five years after this movie was released.
    • Goofs
      When Mary's car goes off the road and in a close shot she takes out the Cracker Jack box, there is a reflection in the side of the car (bottom left) of a pair of legs standing nearby, then walking away.
    • Quotes

      Big Publishing Office Girl: I just love cave men!

    • Alternate versions
      In addition to the 'My Vampire' and 'My Flapper' sequences, there was a third interlude involving the girl with the curls, where Harold finds her as a Mary Pickford-type milk maid. The scene does not survive (it was cut after a preview) but a photograph of the scene has appeared in several publications.
    • Connections
      Featured in World of Comedy (1962)

    User reviews73

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    The dog biscuit boy with the dazed look"
    Harold Lloyd, "third genius" of silent comedy, made his independent debut with Girl Shy after years at Hal Roach studios, Hollywood's premier comedy factory. He chose to take with him his leading lady Jobyna Ralston and his directorial team Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor. However the resulting picture is something of a departure from his earlier work – or, at least, it is a development of it. Girl Shy is less about knitting together gag after gag, taking instead the "story first" approach of Charlie Chaplin's full-length movies.

    And as with Chaplin, the story though emotionally sincere is never allowed to smother the comedy, and quite often a quick joke is used great effect, puncturing a romantic moment before it becomes too sentimental. The story is a little illogical at times – the flashbacks to Harold's "research" for his book seem at odds with the lack of confidence after which the whole picture is named. But those little vignettes offer some great satire on the romantic melodramas of the era, and generally the whole thing is put together with such a fine balancing of romance and humour that it moves along without the deficiencies ever becoming too apparent.

    Directors Taylor and Newmeyer have a great dynamic, it seems trying to make their styles match even though they handle different sections of the movie. Sam Taylor, (who did most of the comedy) uses a lot of close-up gags here, such as the business with the mousetrap, where some little detail will lead to some larger scale shenanigans. And similarly Newmeyer is putting in a lot of discreet close-ups for his non-comedy scenes, such as the shots of the crackerjack box that serve as a symbol for Ralston's memory of Harold. Together the two directors give the whole thing a kind of visual coherence that makes it all seem smooth and flowing. Newmeyer is on particularly fine form here, directing with a subtlety that allows the entire river meeting scene to be played out with no intertitles.

    Lloyd's features typically have a fast-paced editing pattern, largely to facilitate the often breakneck pace of his comedy sequences. The dash to the church which forms the finale of Girl Shy is perhaps the most brilliant of any Lloyd picture, mainly because of the rapidity with which it moves from one gag to the next. The way Harold leaps from, say, the back of a car onto a horse is funny in itself – as well as an impressive stunt. And yet, unlike his previous feature Safety Last!, which had quick edits throughout, Girl Shy also features a few longer takes in the romantic scenes, allowing the camera to linger over a facial expression.

    Which brings me onto Harold himself. He really makes the most of these close-ups. When he receives the bad news over his book, the camera holds him for a lengthy moment, and he really acts. He stays within the parameters of that comical character, but he emotes with complete dignity. Ultimately, Girl Shy is the complete realisation of the Harold Lloyd comedy character that would stick with him in future features (barring one or two deviations). Even though the story may be a little inconsistent as to exactly how "girl shy" Harold really is, this is the first movie to show him not only as a familiar, sympathetic figure, but one who is at risk of being hurt emotionally, not just by the dangers of his cliffhanging slapstick.
    helpful•5
    0
    • Steffi_P
    • Nov 20, 2011

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 20, 1924 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • None
      • English
    • Also known as
      • The Girl Expert
    • Filming locations
      • Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • The Harold Lloyd Corporation
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $400,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 27 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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    Nola Luxford, Dorothy Dorr, Judy King, Priscilla King, Harold Lloyd, and Jobyna Ralston in Girl Shy (1924)
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    By what name was Girl Shy (1924) officially released in Canada in English?
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