Francis Entre Fantasmas

Today, it's hard to imagine ONE Francis the Talking Mule movie...let alone seven. But somehow the public enjoyed them and Universal made seven. But by the final movie, "Francis in the Haunted House", the cast had changed, with Francis' human sidekick now played by Mickey Rooney instead of Donald O'Connor as well as a change in the voice actor playing Francis (yes, sorry to disillusion you but Francis could not actually talk in real life).

Francis witnesses a murder--helped by reporter trail leads to castle!

All of the plots to the various Francis movies are insane. After all, he is supposed to talk! But this one might just be crazier than usual! It begins with Francis witnessing two baddies in VERY stereotypical bad guy outfits murdering someone. Francis follows them to a castle (in the United States?!??!?!?) and so he then tries to enlist the aid of a reporter, David Prescott (Rooney) to help him catch the crooks. But, not surprisingly, Prescott thinks it's all a joke! Can Francis manage to convince David AND capture the killers? And, once he convinces David, can David convince anyone else?!

If ever a movie screamed out 'turn off your brain and don't question the plot', this one is certainly it! And, if you can, you'll likely enjoy this odd film. It's really not bad and is made well despite the ludicrous plot. I liked it enough I almost gave it a 7....almost.

Mickey Rooney was the first actor considered to play the human sidekick of Francis the talking mule, but the role went instead to his friend Donald O'Connor. Six years and six mule movies later, O'Connor decided to move on to greener pastures, and workhorse Rooney was brought in to close out the series.

This movie -- without O'Connor and without Chill Wills doing the mule's voice -- gets no respect from critics and die-hard "Francis" fans. Admittedly it's not as funny as the early "Francis" films, but Rooney and Paul Frees (as the voice) give it their all, and the movie is perfect for children.

The fact is that the "Francis" series was running out of steam already. Winding it up with another military comedy would have been the coward's way out. This movie is more like a harbinger of the "Scooby-do" cartoons: Cops and robbers and alleged ghosts in a completely non-threatening environment. No adult content to trouble parents.

Could it be better? Yes. But it fills a certain niche very well.

This series should've ended after the exits of Donald O'Connor, Arthur Lubin and Chill Wills.

That's not to say that this is any worse than what that trio created together though; I'd say 'Francis in the Haunted House' is better than 'Francis Goes to West Point', in fact.

Mickey Rooney is actually a fairly decent replacement for O'Connor, though it never feels right that the other geezer isn't involved; it's his lead spot, for better or worse. No-one else on the cast sticks out - if I had to pick one: James Flavin.

Finally, six follow-ups later: the end of the 'Francis' series. An interesting (?) time capsule, given the amount of sequels, from the early 1950s, but a series that never quite reaches a positive level in my eyes. 'Francis Goes to the Races' is comfortably the best one (relative, as still not good), the rest will be forgotten.

Francis the Talking Mule witnesses a murder and calls bumbling reporter David Prescott (Mickey Rooney). Francis knew David's uncle and only intends to warn him. David can't help but get involved. The police suspects David as he uncovers the secrets of the crime.

I've never heard of this ridiculous franchise. The first six movies has director Arthur Lubin, Donald O'Connor, and the voice of Chill Wills. This became the last one in the series. I'm guessing that the old team disbanded for various reason and the studio tried to reboot it with a star like Rooney. The plot doesn't make much sense. It's not a good origin story and is only a bad Scooby Doo adventure. Having Rooney talk to a mule seems to be a fun concept and there is some merit in that. Heck, Mr. Ed had a successful run on TV a few years after this. Sadly, not much of this movie works.

The Francis the talking mule series came to a limp end with both Donald O'Connor and Chill Wills as the voice of the mule no longer in the series. Mickey Rooney somehow got talked into this very silly film and to compensate overacted outrageously as to not have the mule steal any scenes. And stealing scenes from Rooney was not easy.

No longer an army mule Francis is put out to pasture and he meets an old friend in Mickey Rooney. He meets him to tell him a murder has been committed and to leave town yesterday lest he get involved. Of course Rooney the boy scout tells the cops and then spends the rest of the film trying to explain he heard it from a mule. The more he explains the more he's suspected.

In fact several more murders occur and it all centers around a haunted Scottish castle something like the one that Eugene Palette moved to Florida in The Ghost Goes West. All the stuff from Universal's Gothic horror days, sets and props, come into play as Rooney decides to solve the mystery.

It's all real silly, in fact the whole series was kind of silly. Francis In The Haunted House sputters the series to an ignominious conclusion.