Francis the Talking Mule (1950) Review

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(More customer reviews)Although these films were made five years apart, the later one is loaded with references to the earlier one, making this a fine double bill. FRANCIS has soldier Donald O'Connor vainly trying to convince his superior officers that he knows a mule that talks. The gimmick is a good one (the director later worked on TV's "Mister Ed"), and it's an enjoyable movie. FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS is even funnier, with O'Connor recalled to duty but in the Women's Army Corps. O'Connor plays the mule's pal more broadly this time, and the script gives him plenty of room for clowning (in one scene O'Connor has to masquerade as a WAC nurse while Francis hilariously heckles everybody). Very well done technically; you'll be amazed at how well the dialogue is fitted to Francis's facial movements. Both films have good supporting casts, especialy Ray Collins and John McIntire in the first film, Lynn Bari and Julia Adams in the second, and Chill Wills and ZaSu Pitts in both. A fun show from Universal.

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Francis the Talking Mule [VHS] (1950)Donald O'Connor (Actor), Patricia Medina (Actor), Arthur Lubin The first movie of Francis they went on to make many others of the adventures of the talking mule.

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The Adventures of Francis the Talking Mule, Vol. 1 (Francis the Talking Mule / Francis Goes to the Races / Francis Goes to West Point / Francis Covers the Big Town) (1950) Review

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(More customer reviews)The listing says that the DVD is in color. But the movies definitely aren't, and never were.
The transfers were OK by me, but I'm no expert. It looked clean.
While I've seen these movies since I was a kid, and always loved them, I was surprised to see who some of the secondary actors turned out to be. In the first movie there's Tony Curtis. In the third one, there's David Janssen and Leonard Nimoy.
This was a formulaic series of films, but they had their hearts in the right place. Francis is an always entertaining guardian angel with a little bit of attitude. And Chill Wills managed to get several octaves in on almost every line, which brought a hee-haw effect to his speech. It's... endearing.
Donald O'Connor is definitely believable as Pete. He's a hoot. Maybe someday that character will actually get it, and won't need Francis to take care of him any more.
Interestingly, on the "Singin' in the Rain" 50th anniversary DVD, Donald O'Connor says that the reason that he's not in the big finale production number is that the studio sent him off to make another Francis movie (West Point, I think). Because I cherish Francis so, that's just fine by me.
Also, the first 3 films actually have continuity, mentioning things from previous adventures. That's kind of nice.
Perhaps they'll release the rest of them on DVD, and I can tell you why Mickey Rooney just couldn't quite make it work. No offense to Mickey, of course. It's just that Donald O'Connor is the one and only real pal to my favorite mule.
Long Live Francis!!!

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ADVENTURES OF FRANCIS TALKING MULE V1 - DVD Movie

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