The Milky Way

Director: Leo McCarey Leo McCarey

Overview

One of the funniest, most sharply paced comedies of the 1930s, and perhaps the best of all of Harold Lloyd's talkies, The Milky Way was based on the Broadway play by Lynn Root and Harry Clork. Lloyd plays Burleigh Sullivan, a mild-mannered milkman who intercedes one night when his sister Mae (Helen Mack) is being accosted on the street by two obnoxious drunks -- they turn their wrath on him, his sister runs for help, and when she returns less than a minute later, both men are out cold on the pavement, with Burleigh standing over them. As one of them, Speed MacFarland (William Gargan), is the world's middleweight boxing champion, and the other, Spider Schultz (Lionel Stander), is his sparring partner, Burleigh makes the front page of every newspaper in New York. McFarland's manager, Gabby Sloan (Adolphe Menjou), has to figure out how to salvage the champ's career, but first he has to figure out exactly what happened, since both fighters were too drunk to remember anything about it. It turns out that Sullivan couldn't beat an egg, but he is good at one thing -- ducking. He can dodge any punch, and the two fighters knocked each other out in the process of trying to pummel him. What's more, on hearing this, they're so angry that Schultz accidentally knocks MacFarland out again, just ahead of the press' arrival, and the little milkman is given credit once more by the reporters for decking the champ. Burleigh loves the attention, even though he never claims to have hit anyone. Meanwhile, Sloan comes up with a way of salvaging his fighter's career, and convinces Burleigh to go along with it for a promised cash sum -- all Burleigh has to do is get in the ring in six fights, to build up his standing and reputation, and finish his "career" in a fight with MacFarland, who will win. In the meantime, complications arise when MacFarland falls in love with Burleigh's sister, while Burleigh himself meets and falls in love with Polly Pringle (Dorothy Wilson), a helpful neighbor. Gabby, Spider, and Speed also discover that turning tiny, wiry Burleigh Sullivan into something that even looks like a fighter is easier said than done -- all of his fights have to be fixed (and then some) behind his back to make his victories look remotely genuine. Finally, after starting to believe his own publicity, and then discovering that the fights were fixed, Burleigh goes through with the final match-up against MacFarland, the culmination of a comedy of errors involving horses, foals, and a wild chase to the arena.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/18/2012
UPC:	0661799477703
Original Release:	1936
Source:	Desert Island Films
Language:	English
Time:	1:29:00
Sales rank:	66,212

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Harold Lloyd	Burleigh "Tiger" Sullivan
Adolphe Menjou	Gabby Sloan
Verree Teasdale	Ann Westley,Ann Westley
William Gargan	Speed McFarland
Helen Mack	Mae Sullivan
George Barbier	Wilbur Austin
Dorothy Wilson	Polly Pringle
Lionel Stander	Spider Schultz
Charles Lane	Willard, Reporter
Marjorie Gateson	Mrs. E. Winthrop LeMoyne
Bull Anderson	Oblitsky
Jim Marples	O'Rourke
Larry McGrath	Referee
Mme. Bonita	Landlady
Henry Roquemore	Doctor
A.S. Byron	Cop
Eddie Dunn	Barber
Jack Clifford	Announcer, Todd Fight
Jack Perry	`Tornado' Todd
Phil Tead	Radio Announcer, Todd Fight
Jack Murphy	Newsboy
Bob Callahan	Onion
Eddie Fetherston	Cameraman
Leonard Carey	Butler
Antrim Short	Photographer
Mel Ruick	Austin's Secretary
Harry Bowen	Bartender
James Farley	Fight Promoter
Harry Bernard	Cop-Tenant
Morrie Cohan	Referee, Polo Grounds
Dan Tobey	Announcer, Polo Grounds
Sam Hayes	Radio Announcer, Polo Grounds
Gertrude Astor	Woman
Ethel May Halls	Woman
Victor Potel	Man
Ray Cooper	Man
Thomas A. Curran	Man
Marty Martin	Ticket Seller
Lloyd Ingraham	Barber Shop Customer
Oscar Smith	Barber Shop Porter
Hazel Laughton	Woman in Coupe
Jay Belasco	Man in Car
Wally Howe	Dr. O.O. White, Veterinarian
Murray Alper	2nd Taxi Driver
Harry Myers	Photographer at Apartment
Charles K. French	Guest at Mrs. LeMoyne's
Gus Leonard	Musician in Band, Title Fight
Anthony Quinn	Extra
Eugene Barry	Policeman
Charles McMurphy	Policeman
Earl Pingree	Policeman
Broderick O'Farrell	Extras at Fight
James Ford	Extras at Fight
Frank Mills	Todd Fight Extra
Bruce Mitchell	Todd Fight Extra
Tom Hanlon	La Grue Fight Announcer
Paddy O'Flynn	Reporter
Milburn Stone	Reporter
Eddie Fetherstone	Cameraman

Technical Credits

Frank Butler

Richard Connell

Grover Jones

Leo McCarey	Director
E. Lloyd Sheldon	Producer
Adolph Zukor	Producer
Frank Butler	Screenwriter
Richard Connell	Screenwriter
Grover Jones	Screenwriter
Earl Hayman	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Directed by Leo McCarey and produced by and starring Harold Lloyd, The Milky Way is one of the most finely etched and precisely paced comedic romps ever to grace the screen, and a dazzling showcase not only for Lloyd, but also for the entire cast. Naturally, he is the star and the main spark plug for the film, but Veree Teasdale as Ann Westly, Gabby Sloan's smart, long-suffering fiancée, steals most of the scenes that she's in with a wisecracking gem of a performance, like Eve Arden with a sharper edge; Adolphe Menjou's Gabby Sloan is a manic whirlwind of neurotic tics and apoplexy-in-the-making; William Gargan and Lionel Stander as the middle-weight champion and his stooge make a boundlessly funny dumb-and-dumber duo (Stander was so good in the part of the stooge that he repeated it in the Danny Kaye remake The Kid From Brooklyn a decade later); finally, Helen Mack and Dorothy Wilson are refreshing and delightful as two young women who are smarter than most of the men around them and not afraid to show it. The screenplay, by Frank R. Butler, Richard Connell, and Grover Jones, is a marvel of verbal and physical humor in perfect balance, while McCarey pulls it all together seamlessly as a vehicle for Lloyd's eager-beaver, go-getter screen persona. The first time he saw it, this reviewer almost hurt himself laughing at the scene where Lloyd's Burleigh Sullivan explains how the champion came to be knocked out, and most of the movie is just a few notches off from that sequence. The Milky Way wasn't a huge success when it was originally released, but over six decades it has retained its comedic edge and its charm where many other celebrated comedies of the period have faded -- and today, along with The Freshman, Safety Last, and Mad Wednesday, it's essential viewing for anyone who wants to appreciate Harold Lloyd's work, and for any fan of classic screen comedy.