The Milky Way
Directed by Leo McCarey
Written by Grover Jones, Frank Butler, and Richard Connell
1936/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing
[box] [when asked whether the transition from silents to sound made any problems because of his voice, as with so many other stars from the era] I had to work a little on my voice because I hadn’t used it for years. I went to a voice coach for about five days, and then he said, “Good-bye, you just weren’t using it right”. — Harold Lloyd[/box]
Leo McCarey ensures that this is funnier than your average comedy.
Burleigh Sullivan (Harold Lloyd) is a mild-mannered milkman with well-developed skills in ducking to avoid punches. One day, he confronts a couple of men who are harassing his sister. During the incident, on of the men, who turns out to be the heavyweight champion of the world, gets knocked out. The fighter’s manager (Adolphe Menjou) decides the only way to salvage his man’s reputation is to build up Burleigh and then let the fighter knock him out in a championship bout. With Verree Teasdale as the manager’s wisecracking girlfriend and William Gargan as the champ’s sparring partner.
A lot of this is quite silly but there is enough inspired screwball dialogue for a good time. Harold Lloyd’s physical antics are also frequently amusing. I attribute the film’s success to McCarey who always gives a very enjoyable improvisational feel to his work.
Samuel Goldwyn bought the rights, original negative, and almost all existing prints and destroyed them when he remade the story as The Kid from Brooklyn, starring Danny Kaye. The film fell into the public domain and the print I watched on Amazon Prime Watch Instant left a lot to be desired.
Clip
