Francis

When Mr. Ed appeared as a TV series, I thought to myself, "They're stealing Francis's thunder. We saw these movies in our local theater. It was about seven or eight years after they came out. That's the thing with small town theaters. But this was what made them great. Francis is an Army mule and he has insights into what is going on because he can eavesdrop on conversations without being suspected. Donald O'Connor, the great song and dance man, becomes Francis's foil. He receives information. After getting over the fact that the mule can talk, he is put in terrible situations where he may have to reveal where he gets his information. Of course, Francis ain't talking to anybody else. Poor Donald. He goes through this time after time after time. I guess I saw more of these movies. I just don't remember them. As a kid it was a kick.

A young soldier Peter Stirling was saved from the Bermese jungles in war time by a talking mule, but nobody believed him until the intelligence information from the mule saved the whole base from Japanese bombers. The truthful soldier Stirling didn't know how to lie about his source of information, the talking army Mule, Francis, so he was treated as a lunatic and led to one after another hilarious situations where the mule is the only one that appears sane. In the process of all this, the mule assisted in uncovering a spy, Mareen, who pretended to be lost among the jungles, but was actually...

Perfect family film, even amusing to the adults. If people all have enough sense as this talking mule does, the world will be a much better place than its present condition.

It is not hard to see why this film was so popular when it was released theatrically, and easy to understand why it failed to create a new generation of fans. Apparently, it is not a film worthy of being a classic, since there is nothing special about this film. In fact, it is inferior to a similarly-themed family classic released in the same year, "Harvey", starring James Stewart. In both films, the central character is accused of being mentally unsound for communicating with animals.

Still, this is a well-made movie with reasonably good writing and direction, featuring talented casts which elevated the film. In particular, Donald O'Connor displayed as much acting range here as James Stewart did in "Harvey". Both of them have this rare ability to emit boyish innocence, something which is even rarer nowadays. Best known for his comedic second-banana performance and exuberant dancing in "Singin' in the Rain", he has the opportunity to display his dramatic acting ability that is sadly overlooked.

This film is definitely a good option if you want to have an enjoyable time with the young children.

No great art here, just lots and lots of fun. Donald O'Connor's Peter Stirling is endearing, sweet, gullible, and the perfect foil for the acerbic mule who has been called, among other things, Groucho on a bad day. O'Connor was always a top-notch comedien -- he had the ability to render an innocent word or phrase hilarious with an unexpected inflection or the lift of an eyebrow. O'Connor doesn't showcase his extraordinary dancing abilities in this series (more's the pity), but we are definitely treated to the eternally young looking actor's gifts as an actor and comedien. If you can talk your children into sitting through at least ten minutes of any of the movies in the Francis series, they'll be hooked -- and they might just gain appreciation for the talents of a bygone era. The comedy and pacing in "Francis" is slower than today's rapid fire movies, but once introduced, children -- and adults -- generally love them. I know I do!

After years of only reading about this series, I finally watched the first entry starring Donald O'Connor with Chill Wills as the voice of the talking mule known as Francis. Donald tells his banker boss about his World War II exploits as the film flashes back to when he was a second lieutenant in the army. So he encounters Francis and when he tells his superiors how he got certain info, that's when the fun starts. I was quite guffawing at many of the scenes and lines even though the DVD I saw this on has some scenes skipping. (Thank goodness one of them wasn't the brief shot of Tony Curtis in one of his earliest appearances especially since I just watched his future wife, Janet Leigh, in Words and Music!) So on that note, I recommend Francis. P.S. Since I always like to cite when someone from my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-is in something else, here it's Frank Faylen as a soldier who spits a lot!