Milky Way, The

1106. THE MILKY WAY (1936-usa). WITH harold lloyd, adolphe menjou, verree TEASDALE, WILLIAM GARGAN, LIONEL STANDER. Directed by LEO mccarey. A fast-paced, wisecracking comedy considered by many to be Lloyd’s finest talkie. The bespectacled comic plays a timid milkman recruited and exploited by a fast-talking fight promoter after accidently knocking out the middleweight champ. The wily promoter uses every trick in the book to make the milkman a star – fixing his fights, setting up extravagant publicity stunts (including sparring with a lion) and sellÂing him to the public as a hero. Before long, the naive milkman starts believing his own publicity and his ego swells alarmingly. He’s riding high until he realizes ifs time for his title bout with the champ – a real fight in which he’ll probably get massacred! Menjou (as the shady promoter) gets to dOff his customary elegance here and rattle Off wisecracking dialogue at breakneck speed while Lloyd is the comic eye Of the storm swirling around him, blithely unaware Of all the havoc he’s causing. Be sure to watch for the classic slapstick scene where he teaches a society matron his fight technique. 88 minutes. Comedy