I know it’s wrong but I can’t help it – I find talking mules really, really funny, and always loved the Francis series as a kid. Watching the movies again, they weren’t quite as good – not really suited for movies, more as a tv series. The structure was the same – first half hour everyone thinks Donald O’Connor is mad then Francis talks to someone, another half hour of people thinking they’re mad, then Francis talks to a few more people, then another half hour and more allegations of madness, the Francis talks to everyone.
Donald O’Connor is very engaging as the nebbish person who Francis presumably talks to because he’s the sort of person who would be bullied by a mule. Chill Wills’ voice is hilarious as Francis. Patricia Medina is a mata hari type and Tony Curtis makes an early appearance, but the majority of support acting is done by a variety of character types playing flustered military men. Arthur Lubin directs with typically unshowy professionalism – he was as good director Lubin, made a lot of enjoyable films without ever getting the kudos.
There's a lot of gags about shrinks. A lot. And there would be a lot more for the coming series.
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