The Milky Way

Director Leo McCarey's charmingly funny THE MILKY WAY stars the fabulous silent-film comedian Harold Lloyd in one of his first talkies. Softie milkman Burleigh Sullivan (Lloyd) ducks at just the right moment during a brawl, and the avoided punch knocks out champion boxer Speed MacFarlane, setting Sullivan in the spotlight as a new boxing wonder. The champ’s tricky manager takes control of the PR disaster, trains the milkman in a series of marvelously comic episodes, fixes easy wins in the ring, and finally sets Sullivan up against the champ in an event that will prove once and for all who the real champ is. Too bad nice guy Sullivan doesn’t realize he’s being set up.... McCarey puts his smoothly comic touch to work in this delightful physical comedy in which ducking is more powerful than swinging. Though remade with Danny Kaye as THE KID FROM BROOKLYN in 1946, this gem featuring Harold Lloyd demonstrates the great physicality and fun this action actor, frequently compared to Buster Keaton, brought to his work.