SnoopyStyle In the small town of Little Bend, girl shy Harold Meadows (Harold Lloyd) is an apprentice tailor working for his uncle Jerry Meadows. He studies the female sex academically and writes a how-to book to meet them, "The Secret of Making Love". There are fantasy sequences portraying the different subsets of women. Mary Buckingham is a carefree rich heiress. Her car breaks down and she walks to the nearest train stop in Little Bend. There she runs into Harold who is going to LA trying to sell his book to a publisher. He immediately falls in love with her. Dogs are forbidden on the train and her dog runs away. Harold manages to retrieve the dog and returns it to the beauty. Neither knew that her boyfriend Ronald DeVore plans to propose marriage.The fantasy sequences are silly to the point of being insulting. There's a possibility that it's a deliberate spoof although the start doesn't set up the satire well. Right before that, the customer and her city cousins are too broad. Even their makeup seem harsh and theatrical. I wish those minor female characters have more realism. It would separate the real world from his imagined world. I actually love the publisher girls making fun of his book which is akin to those pretend-playboys who teaches using insults to get the supermodels. I also wish that Mary is more thankful about her dog immediately although their story is very cute. There is a pleasant flow to their chemistry development but they don't have the heated exchanges which is the hallmark of the standard rom-com formula. This is a sweet simple romance with Harold delivering the comedy and it works. Harold does his action comedy in the third act.

skylarmoffat Girl shy review Girl shy is a hysterical silent film by Harold Lloyd. A man who works in a Taylor shop who is desperately awful with girls, longs to be able to talk to them. In modern time this would be a romantic comedy. While he is on the train one day he runs into a girl hiding her dog and to keep the dog hidden he ends up eating a dog biscuit. He hits it off right away with the girl on the train which makes this such a great romantic comedy

kidboots The only Harold Lloyd film I had seen was "The Kid Brother" at a film club about 35 years ago. I remember the theatre being filled with laughter but back then Lloyd was considered "the funny guy with the horn-rimmed spectacles" and not in the same class as Chaplin or Keaton. But back in the 20s he was far and away the most popular with films like "Girl Shy" and "Safety Last" continually topping the list of the year's most favourite films. I watched this today and don't know when I have laughed so much.It had me from the first title - "In Little Bend three things happen everyday - morning, noon and night". Harold is a tailor's assistant, who is painfully "girl shy". Girls turn Harold into a quivering mess - he has such a bad stutter that only a whistle can stop him (one of the funniest parts of the film). Little Bend's Saturday Dance is in full swing but Harold is far too shy to participate. He uses the excuse of having to get his book ready for the publishers - "The Secret Art of Making Love"!!! On his way to the publishers he meets the girl of his dreams and she is not put off by his speech impediment!!! The publisher and his staff find it hard to keep a straight face when they meet the author of the "Love" manual face to face and decide to publish it as a funny book entitled "The Boob's Diary" - unbeknownst to Harold who thinks he now has nothing to offer "the girl" (played prettily by Jobyna Ralston). She, in turn, agrees to marry a persistent suitor who has a secret - he is already married!!! The film is one big laugh from beginning to end - highlights include - imagining himself a great lover as he overpowers vamps and flappers with his charisma. Rescuing the girl's little dog and keeping it away from the train guard's prying eyes. The huge chase at the end where Harold leaps from car to trolley to policeman's motorcycle to horse all for the sake of true love.Highly Recommended.

CitizenCaine Harold Lloyd ranks as one of the three greatest silent comedians next to Chaplin and Keaton. He combines great comic timing with crisp editing and physical daring-do that wows audiences. Girl Shy, written by Lloyd and the first film he produced, tells the story of a sweet-natured, stuttering bonehead who can not approach the girls. The irony is he has been secretly readying a book on how to be romantic with girls while working his day job as a tailor's assistant, back when a guy could still be a tailor's assistant. He takes a shine to Jobyna Ralston, his co-star in his best films, but then he's embarrassed by his publisher making fun of his book. The publisher decides to publish it as a joke to make the public laugh, and then Harold must spring into action quickly to save Jobyna from marrying a caddish two-timer. Did someone put a gun to her head though? Never mind, it's all in good fun and a set-up to the magnificent thrill comedy Lloyd was known for at the time. He employs just about every item of transportation known at the time to arrive to break up the wedding on time. It's all the more thrilling when you realize these are actual hands-on stunts Lloyd performs without a stuntman. Some of them are obviously quite dangerous upon viewing them. The large estate appearing near the end was Lloyd's own property. It's a terrific piece of good old-fashioned entertainment. *** of 4 stars.