I had this weird epiphany over the weekend. It suddenly occurred to me that this year's hit Will Smith comedy Hitch is actually a remake, more or less, of a classic Harold Lloyd silent comedy, Girl Shy (1924).In Lloyd's version, he plays a shy, inexperienced stutterer who writes a book on how to date girls. Of course, as in Hitch, he falls in love with a real-life girl and none of his techniques work.
When I spoke with Lloyd's granddaughter Suzanne in 2002, she told me that she hoped to do her own remake of Girl Shy. I'm not sure if she ever made the connection between it and Hitch, or if she was secretly involved in Hitch's production, but I think Hitch is a pretty fair updating.
Unfortunately, Girl Shy isn't available on DVD yet, because Ms. Lloyd -- who has control of the Lloyd estate -- is holding out for a truly masterful production with all the bells and whistles and breathtaking video transfers. Meanwhile, a package of Lloyd classics, including the similarly unavailable The Freshman and Safety Last, will hit various repertory houses around the country later this summer including an August 19-25 stop at the Castro in San Francisco.
| :: posted by Jeffrey M. Anderson, 7/11/2005 | Comments (0) Links to this post |
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