GIRL SHY

(1923)
With Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Noah Young, Bill Strothers
Directed by Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor
Silent, Black and White
Reviewed by JB

    Not one of Harold Lloyd's funniest films, but one of his sweetest.  He plays a shy, stuttering boy who nevertheless writes a book on how to win over the hearts of women.  The movie ambles along nicely with some fun sequences and some cute romantic interludes until the climax, which overwhelms everything that comes before it. 

Stunt     When Harold learns of the impending wedding of the girl he loves to a known bigamist, he must  reach the church before she says "I do".  This turns into perhaps the greatest action sequence in silent comedy history, as Harold scrambles from one mode of transportation to another in a breathless race against time.  From fire engine to automobile to motorcycle to streetcar to horseback, Harold's energy never flags in his quest to save his girl from shame.  Insanely fast, furious and funny, it is twenty minutes unlike anything else you may find in silent comedy and is Lloyd's crowning achievement.  The scene even includes a startling unplanned moment in which Harold and his horse take a horrible spill.

     GIRL SHY was Lloyd's first independent feature after leaving Hal Roach, but things were obviously amicable, as Lloyd makes nice use of three contemporary Our Gang members: Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon and Mickey Daniels.   - JB

Harold Lloyd     The Age of Comedy