Francis (1950)

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As a kid, I thought Francis the Talking Mule was a TV show (like Mr. Ed, which I never saw). Maybe I never caught the beginning of one (or noticed the length), maybe I caught several different ones (could there have been a marathon on Nickelodeon one of those Texas summers?), I don't know. From my vestigial memories, it was probably Goes to West Point or Joins the Wacs (or both, or more, they made seven, after all). Watching the first movie, simply called Francis, I have no real memory of it, and though several times, I did catch myself laughing out loud at the absurdity (and the comic timing, it's not just a question of having a ludicrous premise), I still find it too bad that given the World War II setting, the movie is pretty racist towards the Japanese. I don't really want "Japs this, and Japs that" in a trifle meant for kids, you know? Even so, Francis was fun in the way that Herbie films or 50s/60s sitcoms are fun. A lot of that has to do with the human star of (most of) these films, Donald O'Connor whose guileless second lieutenant keeps having to explain where he got his information from, and no one believing his source could be a sarcastic army mule. There's a bit of a spy story as well, but it's far from a puzzler. Bonus points for Patricia Medina's French, which is excellent given she's British, and some will get a thrill from seeing Tony Curtis basically do nothing very early in his career. 3 years 11 months ago