The Milky Way (1936 film)

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The Milky Way
Directed by	Leo McCarey
Produced by	E. Lloyd Sheldon
Written by	Grover Jones Frank Butler Richard Connell based on the play of the same name
Starring	Harold Lloyd Adolphe Menjou Veree Teasdale Helen Mack Lionel Stander
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	February 7, 1936
Running time	88 min
Country	USA
Language	English
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The Milky Way is a 1936 comedy film starring Harold Lloyd.

An example of the popular screwball comedy genre of the time, and critically Harold Lloyd's most successful talkie, it tells the story of a Brooklyn milkman who becomes middleweight boxing champion.

[edit] Plot

Timid milkman Burleigh Sullivan (Lloyd) becomes involved in a brawl which ends up with Speed McFarland, the world middleweight champion being knocked out cold (he never in fact threw a punch; he merely ducked to get out of the way of a punch which brought the champ down).

McFarland's boss, the crooked Gabby Sloan (Adolphe Menjou), decides to promote Sullivan in a series of fixed fights that will culminate in him being knocked out in a real fight with McFarland. Against all the odds, Sullivan triumphs and becomes world champion.

[edit] Trivia

• When producer Samuel Goldwyn bought the rights for the property in the mid-1940s for his remake, The Kid from Brooklyn (with Danny Kaye in the lead role), he also bought the original negative and almost all existing prints, and destroyed them.

Feature films starring Harold Lloyd

Silent: A Sailor-Made Man (1921) • Grandma's Boy (1922) • Doctor Jack (1922) • Safety Last! (1923) • Why Worry? (1923) • Girl Shy (1924) • Hot Water (1924) • The Freshman (1925) • For Heaven's Sake (1926) • The Kid Brother (1927) • Speedy (1928) • Welcome Danger (1929, released 2005)

Sound: Welcome Danger (1929) • Feet First (1930) • Movie Crazy (1932) • The Cat's-Paw (1934) • The Milky Way (1936) • Professor Beware (1938) • The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947)