Francis [Francis the Talking Mule] ** (1950, Donald O’Connor, Patricia Medina, Zasu Pitts) – Classic Movie Review 9388

Tony (Anthony) Curtis is still struggling to make his mark in the movies, playing Captain Jones, in the first Francis the Talking Mule film…

Donald O’Connor stars as truthful bumbling World War Two soldier Lieutenant Peter Stirling, who adopts Francis the Talking Mule (the voice of Chill Wills) as his buddy, gets sent to the psychiatric ward and gives the US military academy of West Point something to talk about, in Universal International Pictures’s silly but amusing 1950 farce Francis, which was so popular it spawned six sequels.

Arthur Lubin, the director, later took the idea to television as Mister Ed, the talking horse, a TV series that ran from 1958 to 1966).

David Stern’s screenplay is taken from his own novel.

The young and upcoming Universal contract artist Tony (Anthony) Curtis is still struggling to make his mark in the movies, playing Captain Jones.

Also in the cast are Ray Collins, John McIntire, Eduard Franz, Robert Warwick, Howland Chamberlain, James Todd, Frank Faylen, Mikel Conrad, Tony Curtis, Loren Tindall, Charles Meredith, Robert Anderson, Jack Gargan, Steve Carruthers, Creighton Hale, Sam Harris, Forbes Murray, Harry Harvey, Jeffrey Sayre, Larry Steers, Howard Negley, Al Ferguson, Harold Fong, Duke York, Tim Graham, Marvin Kaplan and Roger Moore (the character actor, 1900–1999).

Molly plays Francis and the distinctive voice of Francis is Chill Wills’s voice-over.

It is shot in mid 1949 at Universal Studios, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California; with location work at Conejo Valley Airport, Thousand Oaks Blvd at Moorpark Blvd, Thousand Oaks, California.

Francis is directed by Arthur Lubin, runs 91 minutes, is made by Universal International Pictures. is released by Universal Pictures (1950) (US) and General Film Distributors (GFD) (1950) (UK) , is written by David Stern, based on his own novel, is shot in black and white by Irving Glassberg, is produced by Robert Arthur, is scored by Frank Skinner and Walter Scharf (uncredited), and is designed by Bernard Herzbrun and Richard H Riedel.

There are five sequels with O’Connor: 1951: Francis Goes to the Races; 1952: Francis Goes to West Point; 1953: Francis Covers the Big Town; 1954: Francis Joins the WACs; 1955: and Francis in the Navy, featuring Clint Eastwood; and one final film with Mickey Rooney: 1956: Francis in the Haunted House.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9388

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