The Milky Way *** (1936, Harold Lloyd, Adolphe Menjou, Verree Teasdale) – Classic Movie Review 11,161

Director Leo McCarey’s amusing and enjoyable 1936 American black and white screwball comedy film The Milky Way stars Harold Lloyd as timid Brooklyn milkman Burleigh Sullivan who accidentally knocks out the boxing champ Speed McFarland (William Gargan) in a brawl over Burleigh’s sister (Helen Mack).

Burleigh then goes on to become middleweight boxing champion after the fighter’s crooked manager Gabby Sloan (Adolphe Menjou) builds the milkman’s reputation in fixed fights.

The idea was that the champ was going beat Burleigh in a knockout to regain his title, but Burleigh triumphs against all the odds.

It is written by Grover Jones, Frank Butler and Richard Connell based on a 1934 Broadway play of the same name by Lynn Root and Harry Clork.

George Barbier (left) and Harold Lloyd in The Milky Way (1936).

The Milky Way features co-starring performances by Adolphe Menjou (Gabby) and Verree Teasdale (Ann), who were husband and wife, married in 1934 until Menjou’s death in 1963.

The Milky Way is remade as the 1946 Danny Kaye musical The Kid from Brooklyn.

The original play The Milky Way opened on Broadway in 1934 and flopped, running for only 63 performances. Harold Lloyd’s film version The Milky Way also flopped, though not by much. It cost $1,032,000 and grossed $1,170,000 (US). But The Kid from Brooklyn was a hit.

The main cast are Harold Lloyd as Burleigh ‘Tiger’ Sullivan, Adolphe Menjou as Gabby Sloan (Speed’s manager), Verree Teasdale as Ann Westley, Helen Mack as Mae Sullivan (Burleigh’s sister), William Gargan as Speed McFarland (middleweight champ), George Barbier as Wilbur Austin, Dorothy Wilson as Polly Pringle, Lionel Stander as Spider Schultz (Speed’s bodyguard), Charles Lane as Willard and Marjorie Gateson as Mrs. E Winthrop Lemoyne, with Anthony Quinn in an uncredited bit part as an extra in his first film appearance and the early American silent film star Thomas A Curran in another uncredited bit part.

It runs 89 minutes.

It is filmed at Paramount Studios, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood.

A cow’s head is superimposed on the Paramount logo and the cow then moos!

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,161

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