Girl Shy (1924)

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland












Michael's Movie Grade:A+

Review: Incredible silent romantic comedy, that shows perfectly why Harold Lloyd deserves his placing among such greats as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

This film was the first movie Harold Lloyd produced himself after leaving the Hal Roach Studios. Despite this Harold still had most of the same crew that had worked with him on the Hal Roach films including directors Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, writers Ted Wilde and Tim Whelan, and cinematographer Walter Lundin. This is a great start that stands up against his best films for Hal Roach.

This film is naturally very funny. Scenes like Harold and Mary (played by Jobyna Ralston) trying to hide a dog on board a train, Harold's fantastic (and ridiculous) romantic fantasies, and the long chase at the end are about as funny as anything Harold has ever done. Thomas J. Gray's intertitles are also as funny as they can be.

Harold Lloyd like to divide his movies between what he called gag pictures and character pictures. In gag pictures the story existed for no other reason than to propel the gags, but in character pictures along with the comedy there was some drama as well (though they were still mainly comedies). This was a character picture. The drama in this film is fantastic. You truly care about Harold. You feel sorry for him and hope things turn out well in the end. On top of this the romance between him and Mary is utterly believable. The actor and actress have perfect chemistry and the romance is very well written. You find even while you are laughing, you are still wanting them to get together. One scene where things look grim is very heartbreaking.

I was fortunate enough to see this in a theater with live musical accompaniment (by a very talented organist named Bill Field). If you ever get a chance to see this film this way do it. As much as I loved the many times I had seen this on DVD and TCM, this was a whole different experience and something that managed somehow to be much better, than what was already great.   

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Maltease Falcon (1941)

Review written by Michael J. Ruhland











Michael's Movie Grade:A+

Review: Incredible movie, fully deserving it's reputation as a classic. About as good as it gets.

Everything about this movie is as good as it can be. The casting is perfect. This movie played a huge part in Bogie becoming the huge star he became, and it is easy to see why. His performance here couldn't possibly be any better. Just as great here are Peter Lorre (in one of his best roles), Sidney Greenstreet, Mary Astor and simply the whole cast. On top of this the filmmaking itself is near perfect. It is especially hard to believe (but true) that this was the directorial debut of  John Houston, because it feels like it was directed by a old pro. The film keeps all the magic of the book, but is still completely cinematic. Arthur Edeson's cinematography, the amazing pacing, and great editing are a huge part of what makes this film so great. However they are so good, that you don't notice them at all the first few times you watch this film. On top of all this the story all this is working for is an excellent one.

Quite simply put, this is the type of movie dreams are made of.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Polly Tix in Washinton (1933)

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland
















Michael's Movie Grade:C+

Review: Entertaining comedy short.

This film was directed and written by Charles Lamount, who also directed quite a few Keystone shorts. This becomes obvious at times as there are some very Keystone-y gags in this film, such as the senator eating a cake like a buzz saw. These jokes are fast and sometimes quite funny. On the downside, sometimes the writing seemed to rely too much on the kids being cute, and there were a few jokes that missed. Also the kids (with the exception of Shirley Temple) were definitely not the best actors (and certainly not on the level of let's say Our Gang).  However while this short never reached the level of Our Gang, it was still an entertaining film.

Also this holds interest to classic film buffs as it features a very early appearance by Shirley Temple. The role she plays here may surprise film fans as it is quite different from the roles she is known for. There is also quite a bit of risqué humor for a film with Shirley Temple in it (this was pre-code after all), and no singing or dancing.

-Michael J. Ruhland