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This entertaining film deals with a timid milkman named Burleigh Sullivan (the name of the lead character, "Burleigh" is an inside joke since it sounds like "burly" which means 'strongly and heavily built, husky' which the character is not) . Sullivan (Harold Lloyd), somehow knocks out a boxing champ in a brawl. The newspapers get hold of the story and photographers even catch Burleigh knock out Speed again . Speed's crooked manager (Adolphe Menjou) decides to turn Burleigh into a boxer . Burleigh doesn't realize that all of his opponents have been asked to take a dive. Thinking he really is a great boxer , Burleigh develops a swelled head which puts a crimp in his relationship with pretty girl called Polly Pringle (Dorothy Wilson) . He may finally get his comeuppance when he challenges fighter Speed (William Gargan) for the title. So the sleazy manager decides to substitute him with Sullivan , who is now groomed for stardom. Naive Burleigh does everything the crook says, only to be blamed when it all explodes in their faces big time.

This light-hearted comedy and enjoyable story is basically a showcase for the many talents of Lloyd , as a frail man mistaken for a potential champion and probably to be Harold's last classic picture . The yarn is appropriate , but no equal to Lloyd previous silent productions. Amusing acting by Harold Lloyd as a shy milkman Burleigh Sullivan who accidentally knocks out drunken Speed McFarlane, a champion boxer who was flirting with Burleigh's sister . Harold plays a milque-toast weak man , a funny and totally extroverted Lloyd who thinks he really won all those fights that he was signed up by crooked manager Adolphe Menjou who shows to have a big flair for slapstick comedy . Features great support cast such as Helen Mack , William Gargan and Lionel Stander will repeat his role from this original version ten years later and film debut of Anthony Quinn. Producer Samuel Goldwyn bought the rights for the property in the mid-1940s for his remake The kid of Brooklyn (1946), as well as the original negative and almost all existing prints, and destroyed them. The ending struggle scenes for the championship is hysterically fun , an adequate material for Harold LLoyd's physical skills . Beautifully filmed in black and white cinematography as well as atmospheric musical score . It proved to be a very profitable film , being this original rendition with Lloyd and McCarey crisper and funnier than subsequent retelling . The motion picture was professionally directed by Leo McCarey ; however , when director was in the hospital, Norman Z. McLeod directed some of the scenes . The film is definitely for the lighthearted.

This flick has been adapted several times , as firstly the original play opened at the Cort Theatre in New York on 8 May 1934 and closed in July 1934 after 63 performances , titled the Milky Way (1934) , written by Lynn Root and Harry Clork , directed by William W. Schorr with a cast formed by : John Brown, Brian Donlevy (as "Speed McFarland"), Leo Donnelly (as "Gabby Sloan") , Edward Emerson, William Foran, Gladys George (as "Anne Westey"), Emily Lowry, Hugh O'Connell (as "Burleigh Sullivan") . And reworked a decade later by Samuel Goldwyn as The kid from Brooklyn (1946) , it even features some of the same supporting characters the Lloyd version . The big difference is the addition of the songs , the players are : Danny Kaye as Burleigh Sullivan, Virginia Mayo as Polly Pringle , Vera-Ellen as Susie Sullivan , Steve Cochran as Speed McFarlane , Eve Arden as Ann Westley , Walter Abel as Gabby Sloan , Lionel Stander as Spider Schultz . Furthermore , The Hedda Hopper Show - This Is Hollywood" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on March 22, 1947 with Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo reprising their film roles. And finally a special version titled ¨The Calcium kid¨ (2004) starred by Orlando Bloom , Michael Lerner , Billie Pipper , David Kelly ,in which an English bachelor milkman, 'accidentally' knocks down his boxing club's champion as stand-in sparring partner.

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.

Adolphe Menjou plays up milkman Harold accidentally knocking out the middleweight Champ into a fixed series of fights. And what strikes me is that--unlike poor Buster Keaton, or Charlie Chaplin's Tramp suddenly sounding like an English butler in "The Great Dictator"--Lloyd was perfectly cast in playing the nice likable sound version of his nebbishy Clark-Kent hero, even if he was getting a little too old to play the young twenty-something go-getter of "Safety Last" by this time.

The script was based on a then-hit play, and director Leo McCarey handles the right mix of the play's Front Page-esque late-20's rapid-fire wisecrack snark, and Lloyd's own physical comedy, as a "fighter" with an amazingly developed personal talent for ducking punches. (And, like all Lloyd characters, his embarrassingly ambitious delusions of grandeur once a few fixed fights go to his head.) I may only have a few to judge from, but if you had to see ONE Harold Lloyd talkie out of curiosity to see how the sound era treated him, this is one that will relieve the most worry. He had been making sound films for seven years by now, and although the first one , "Welcome Danger", was just awful, Lloyd improved quickly in the new medium.

I have fond memories of "The Milky Way".Around 6 or 7 years ago I was working my way through one of those 50 movies sets.You know,those cheaply packaged box sets that always end up having some really good classic movies in them? Anyway,I stuck a disc in my player and sat down to watch some movie I had never heard of before.Of course it was "The Milky Way" with Harold Lloyd,and as I watched I couldn't take my eyes off this cute & funny young man in glasses. After I finished watching this wonderful classic gem,I had to know one thing: Who in the heck IS Harold Lloyd? Well,I did some online checking and found out,and since then I have become a total fan.I now own everything of his that's available and it seems like I became a fan just in the nick of time since THE Harold Lloyd(Newline)box set was just released. Just a small word of advice to anybody who doesn't like this movie.Try something else of Harold Lloyd's.He made so many wonderful films like "Grandma's Boy","Safety Last" "The Freshman" and my favorite "The Kid Brother".You won't be sorry you did.

I was fortunate enough to catch this at a private screening as I understand there was an attempt to destroy all copies when the remake with Danny Kaye was made. I have seen both and this version is far superior. Harold Lloyd is incredibly funny and his comic timing has to be among the best. If you get a chance, catch this one. 8 out of 10.