The_Blacksheep

"Girl Shy" is a silent film comedy featuring Harold Lloyd as Harold Meadows, a lovesick yet shy individual. Unable to approach girls due to his shyness, he imagines romantic scenarios and writes a book titled "The Secret of Making Love," detailing how to attract various types of women. The film combines elements of Charlie Chaplin's dramatic/tragicomic scenes and Buster Keaton's stunts, including a chase sequence reminiscent of Keaton's work in the final half-hour. The premise of the film includes unexpected twists, with Harold Lloyd delivering a notable performance as Harold Meadows.

Harold Lloyd is regarded as one of the leading figures in silent film comedy, alongside Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton. However, Lloyd is less well-known today compared to Chaplin and Keaton. Multiple factors might contribute to this; for instance, Lloyd's films may lack a distinct identity when compared to Chaplin's and Keaton's. Chaplin had a longer career and several notable talking films, whereas Keaton faced personal struggles later in his career. Lloyd led a more private life and retired early from filmmaking. Despite this, Lloyd's films feature dynamic pacing, minimal sentimentality, and universal humor that appeals to a wide audience.

"Girl Shy" is definitiely one of the finest films in Harold Lloyds filmography.

Bill "Stoker" Thompson (Robert Ryan) is an older, superannuated boxer with a long losing streak. His manager Tiny (George Tobias) has therefore made a deal with a gangster for a knockout match against the younger, promising boxer "Tiger" Nelson (Hal Baylor). Tiny, however, chooses not to inform Stoker. The reason for this is that he already feels certain that Stoker will lose and therefore hopes to keep the money for himself. Stoker, however, has decided to give his all in this match. He wants to show himself, his girlfriend and everyone else that he is someone to be reckoned with.

A unique stylistic move for The Set-up is that it takes place in real time. This means that the boxing rounds are shown in full. During the boxing sequences, the boxing also alternates regularly between the fighters and the reactions of various characters in the audience and Stoker's manager. Although the boxing takes up a large part of the film's length, it never feels drawn out. Instead, the rounds are completely dripping with excitement and we as spectators are completely immersed in Stoker's fight. We long for the sound of the boxing gong so that we and Stoker will have a chance to breathe. Martin Scorsese has regularly mentioned The Set-Up as one of his favorite films and was inspired by the film a lot when he directed Raging Bull.

Director Robert Wise had a long career and was especially praised/praised for the musical films West Side Story and Sound of Music. In my opinion, however, The Set-Up is his strongest and most intense film. Robert Ryan gives one of his best acting performances in the film and Stoker's fate is touching. It is also worth knowing that Robert Ryan boxed during his time in college and Hal Baylor had a professional career as a boxer.

Ace in the Hole is one of the most underrated films directed by Billy Wilder. For its time, it has an extremely dark theme and today it could almost be classified as a black comedy. And although Billy Wilder has tackled dark subject matters before (Sunset Blvd.), he is definitely best known for his comedies/collaborations with Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot & The Apartment). Ace in the Hole was also not particularly appreciated by its contemporary critics who called it both cynical and merciless. It was also a boxoffice flop and the film failed to attract enough people to even recoup its budget.

The film follows Chuck Tatum (Kirk Douglas), a former great journalist who feverishly fights to find a scoop. When he hears that a man is stuck in a cave, he does everything in his power to prolong the rescue and to get exclusive rights to all interviews with the victim. He does this to get a boost in his stagnant career. The story proves very engaging to the public and the area around the cave becomes the home of a carnival that many curious people visit. However, the story takes a dark turn when the man in the cave becomes seriously ill.

Kirk Douglas is very good in the role of the hungry/unscrupulous journalist and the film feels very relevant even today. It has a lot to say about human greed and that we may not have come that far from the time when public executions were an event. About clickbait articles and that the drive for profit before journalistic press ethics. Ace in the Hole was clearly ahead of its time and if you can handle the difficult subject matter, it's a world-class film that absolutely shouldn't be missed by anyone.