Customer Reviews

The Milky Way

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a good Harold Lloyd movie, although not one of his best (but they are all pretty good.) The problem with the DVD is that the quality of the transfer is very bad.

The video quality is poor. It is washed out in places. Contract is bad. Part of the titles are cut off.

The sound quality is absolutely horrible. In many places it shrieks like an old speaker turned up too loud. It was painful to listen to this movie at any other than a very low (i.e. barely make out the words) sound level.

This will be released as part of the Harold Lloyd set coming out in November. I'm sure we'll see a better looking and sounding print. This promises to be quite a release and may do much to revitalize the reputation of a unique comedy genius.

I watched this film two times the first evening I got a copy; I was a little astonished. As a wacky comedy from that era it's not on the level of The Awful Truth or Bringing Up Baby--it's a notch below--but it's very good and has plenty of imaginative and gut-busting moments. I was roaring through the entire ending, and that's the way it should be with a good comedy.

The aspects that prevent this from being a front-runner are a not-totally-there script, a fun but vaguely awkward performance by Adolphe Menjou as a fight promoter, and some lumpiness to the flow of the proceedings. Screwball comedy, based as it is on generally unbelievable premises and coincidences, requires carefully calibrated velocity and pacing to keep the audience from noticing the unreality of the situations. The best examples have theatrical precedents--Arsenic and Old Lace, in its film incarnation, still feels like a stage play but it works brilliantly because it's relentless. All this movie was missing was more inspired direction.

Still, Lloyd, and much of the cast, are a pleasure, and the fun almost always never stops. A solid four-star with plenty of five-star moments--including one scene where Lloyd plays a sort of boomerang game with his hat.

When Burleigh Sullivan (played by Harold Lloyd), a mild-mannered milkman, is credited with knocking out the middleweight champion, he suddenly finds himself offered a career as a prizefighter. Little does Burleigh know, though, that his manager has set him up, and all of his fights are rigged. The final fight is going to be a doozy, and Burleigh is going to need...something, if he is going to make it through!

This was one of the last of Harold Lloyd's films. It is a wonderful talkie, one that contains real flashes of the old Harold Lloyd. True, there's no hilarious high-altitude capers, no police chase scenes, but there are some pratfalls and Harold showing some of his old athletic ability. I found it to be a rather funny movie, a real nice black-and-white goofball comedy. Perhaps it's not in the same league with the earlier silent movies, but it is a lot of fun anyway, and well worth watching!

By the way, there are some familiar faces in this movie that I enjoyed seeing again, including Charles Lane in one of his earliest films, and Lionel Stander (the gravel voiced butler, Max, from Hart to Hart)!

The Milky Way is a later sound feature starring the silent comedian Harold Lloyd. It begins with an incompetant milkman (Lloyd) in a very funny scene at a meeting for the company. This man happens to stumble upon some prize fighters one night and agitates them until they attempt to beat him up. Little do they know how nimble he is and the middle-weight champion finds himself with birds circling his head. The fighter's promoter (Adolph Menjou) wants to employ the milkman in order to alter gossip, but he is none too receptive. Later, he gets roped into it anyway and a string of fixed fights and publicity leave the milkman with a massively inflated ego.

Lloyd is astonishingly funny in this film. His silent character is only amplified by the fact that he speaks here. Some silent stars lost something when sound came, but Lloyd seems to have fed on its power. He is truly a bright spot.

Most film collectors know that many films aren't in great condition and are able to look past the fuzzy prints and dull soundtrack to see the film they've been dying to see. This film is easy to love because of the great script and Lloyd's hilarious antics and even moreso by those people who have trained themselves to look past bad prints. For others, it might not be as enjoyable because the quality can be a bit distracting.

Overall, this is entertaining even if it is very dated in a Harold Lloyd-kind of way, meaning a typical role for him where he's the wimpy-but-brave hero. I have this film as part of the three-volume "The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection" DVD set, which provides excellent transfers on Harold's films.

In this story, Harold is "Burleigh Sullivan," the shy milkman who winds up - even though no clue about boxing - as a professional fighting for the middleweight championship of the world! Ridiculous? Yes, but that was Lloyd and his films: slapstick lunacy like Keaton, Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, etc.

Along the way to his fame and glory in the ring, Harold picks up a serious girlfriend (the very wholesome and attractive Dorothy Wilson as "Polly Pringle") and so a little romance is part of the story, too.

Lloyd provides a lot of laughs but he isn't the only one. Helen Mack has a lot of wisecracking lines as Burleigh's younger sister, "Mae." Also, con-man/fight manager "Honest Gabby Sloan" (Adolph Menjou) gets in his share of funny and serious lines. The three of them, plus some other mentally-challenged boxers, all contribute humor.

In all, it's a sweet-tempered film with a lot of charm. True, some of the humor is too dated and stupid but the "hits" far outnumber the "misses" in the comedy department.

Passport Video and Koch Entertainment Distribution present "CLASSIC COMEDIES FROM HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE" (Dolby digitally remastered) --- relive the laughter from Hollywood's Golden Age...spanning the early years of comedy ('20s--'40s) --- this collection features signature films from comedy's greatest names...besides that you just discovered the essential collection of classic comedy performances --- this compilation features more hours of the best routines in comedy history than you could shake a stick at...laugh along with your favorite film, scene and actors that keep you coming back for more.

15 Fabulously Funny Feature Films (in alphabetical order in which they appear)

1. FATHER'S LITTLE DIVIDEND (1951) Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor & Joan Bennett
2. GENERAL, THE (1927 Buster Keaton
3. GOLD RUSH, THE (1925) Charlie Chaplin
4. HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) Cary Grant & Rosalind Russell
5. INSPECTOR GENERAL,THE (1949) Danny Kaye & Elsa Lanchester
6. JUDGE PRIEST (1934) Will Rogers & Hattie McDaniel
7. LIFE WITH FATHER (1947) William Powell, Elizabeth Taylor & Irene Dunne
8. MILKY WAY,THE (1936) Harold Lloyd & Adolphe Menjou
9. MR. ROBINSON CRUSOE (1932) Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
10. MY MAN GODFREY (1936) William Powell & Carole Lombard
11. NOTHING SACRED (1937) Fredric March & Carole Lombard
12. PALOOKA (1934) Stu Erwin & Jimmy Durante
13. SPEAK EASILY (1932) Buster Keaton & Jimmy Durante
14. THAT UNCERTAIN FEELING (1941) Merle Oberon & Melvyn Douglas
15. TOPPER RETURNS (1941) Joan Blondell & Roland Young

Great job by Passport Video for releasing "Classic Comedies From Hollywood's Golden Age", the digital transfere with a somewhat clean and clear print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage era of the '20s, '30s & '40s ... order your copy now from Amazon or Passport Video where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch performances mixed with laughter ... they're funny, they're sad, but most of all they're passionate ... here's a side-splitting collectioin of classic comedies that appeal to every sense of humor from slapstick to sophisticated --- they say that laughter is always the best medicine, try some you just might like it..

Total Time: 1315 mins on 5-DVD's ~ Passport Video DVD #5870 ~ (7/11/2006)

The Milky Way is a Harold Lloyd 'talkie' (from Paramount). As a milkman, he inadvertently gets into a scrap with a boxer and promoter/manager, one evening, when Burleigh (Harold Lloyd) goes to meet his sister, after she gets off work.

This movie may get a laugh or two from you, if you're an HL fan,
but after that, there's just too much waiting/anticipating for Harold's next scene.

Now, unlike the silent "The Freshman", produced eleven years earlier, The Milky Way pales terribly in comparison, in the area of quality 'belly laughs', and also as a 'quantity' movie, having too many scenes without the silent era star. The Milky Way provided me with only a couple, if any laughs. Still, a fun movie to watch with family, but try to go with the older stuff, if you can find it.

I'm a big Harold Lloyd fan, but this movie is a waste of time. Luckily, I have it recorded from TV. Am now erasing it.