"The Milky Way" is one of the last films that Harold Lloyd made before retiring from acting. Along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, Lloyd was one of the great legendary comics of the silent film era. He transitioned OK into sound pictures, but with sound the style of comedy changed from almost all antics to scripts with dialog and other movement. So, he retired early in the sound era. Keaton didn't have a nest egg built up so he continued to work steadily through the 1960s, first doing many shorts that were still used with features in theaters, and then in lesser and lesser roles of feature films. Chaplin was a prolific writer as well, and a successful director and producer. He had a nice nest egg built up, so he was able to live while working on an occasional hit film. Over the next two decades he made just four films, each one a masterpiece.This film is a simple plot with silly scenes of Lloyd's Burleigh Sullivan knocking out prizefighters. That is, supposedly knocking them out. A small supporting cast does a good job. Adolphe Menjou is a showstopper in his scenes. He comes on strong as Gabby Sloan, the questionable fight manager. Some supporting cast standards have nice parts. Lionel Stander is very funny as Spider Schultz. For anyone who hasn't seen Lloyd in a movie, this film is OK. But this doesn't rank anywhere near the classic stuff for which he is most remembered. He is the guy hanging high over a street from the hands of a large clock on a building. That 1923 film, "Safety Last," is among his classics.

Turner Classic Movies often has a Harold Lloyd marathon, and sometimes Lloyd's daughter is on hand with an introduction. She and TCM have apparently brought a multitude of new fans to him, and he deserves every one.In "The Milky Way" Harold Lloyd outdoes even himself, and that is (as it is intended) high praise.Far and away better than the remake with the execrable Danny Kaye, this movie has a terrific cast and good script. Helen Mack, one of my particular favorites, gets a rare chance to shine, and she grabs that chance and really does shine in a marvelous performance. Adolphe Menjou, another of my favorites, is just great, nicely underplaying a character role. Actually, everyone seems to be just about perfect in their roles.Add good directing, good writing, and the whole experience is thoroughly enjoyable.You don't have to wait for TCM to bring it around: There is a version at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0x128sbn74

I had seen an earlier example of Harold Lloyd's work from the silent era (1924's "Girl Shy") and enjoyed it very much. When I stumbled upon this DVD for $2 in - of all places - the bargain section of a grocery store, I thought it was a small enough investment to try out. I was not disappointed.Lloyd's performance in this was excellent. He makes use of some wonderful physical comedy (not surprisingly, given his roots in the silent era) but also shows that he can speak, and thus - unlike some silent stars - could make the jump to the "talkies." Here, he plays Burleigh "Tiger" Sullivan - a mild-mannered milkman who, through a series of blunders, finds himself a contender for the Middleweight Championship of the World! William Gargan also put on a good performance as Speed McFarlane, the "Champ." Good performances aside, I thought this was basically a "middling" comedy that probably could have been improved by making greater use of Lloyd's physical comedy, particularly by incorporating some scenes of "Tiger" in the ring - of which there was really precious little, until the title bout between Tiger and Speed at the end of the movie. And it was the end of the movie that really lifted this out of a strictly "middling" status. The last 15-20 minutes of this are really quite funny - especially as Tiger travels to the title bout in a taxi cab with a baby horse, which he has to keep hidden from the driver.Well worth watching. 7/10.

I taped this movie when it was shown on TCM recently and I've rewatched it several times since, enjoying it more with each viewing. It's a hilarious and energetic movie, and the editing, framing, and compositions of characters are always fresh, funny, and cliché-free. I especially like how the film echoes Burleigh's "ducking" abilities by cleverly using "ducking" techniques, or ellipses, in various ways: in telling the story, by leaving out certain scenes and revealing them later; and even in framing (in one scene Adolph Menjou plays a scene hidden behind a tree branch, "ducking out" of the frame). This film is as good as The Awful Truth and to me has the same strange beauty of that wonderful film.