The Milky Way. 1936. USA. Directed by Leo McCarey. Screenplay by Grover Jones, Frank Butler, Richard Connell. With Harold Lloyd, Adolphe Menjou, Veree Teasdale. 85 min.
This marks the teaming of the two class valedictorians of the Hal Roach Studio: Harold Lloyd, who helped create the studio and its approach to film comedy, and McCarey, who refined the studio’s style. Joined here by fellow comedy veterans Frank Butler and Grover Jones, the result is a perfect blend of silent physical comedy with sound screwball comedy dialogue and characters. Long underrated because of the poor public-domain prints in circulation, it is presented here in a magnificent restoration from UCLA Film & Television Archive.