Francis (1950)
Director: Arthur Lubin
Well before the achievement of the television show Mr. Ed
there existed the success of the silver screen known as Francis the Talking
Mule. With 1950’s Francis audiences howled with laughter as they were
convinced with a little movie manipulation that a mule could talk swiftly
launching a minor picture into a wild success for Universal. The film would
help propel little Donald O’Connor into a new realm of stardom and launched a
series of sequels that became quietly one of the most successful film
franchises of the 1950s.
Francis is a comedy about a hapless soldier that gains
commendation and ridicule for his relationship with a talking mule. Second
Lieutenant Peter Stirling (Donald O’Connor) finds himself to be perhaps the
most ill-suited soldier in the US Army while fighting in the Pacific theater
during World War II when a mule, named Francis (voiced by Chill Willis) begins to
speak only to him. With Francis providing Peter with key information about the
Japanese enemy and providing strategic instruction Peter is praised for a
number of harrowing military triumphs. However, Peter’s sanity is questioned by
authorities and his love interest Maureen (Patricia Medina) each time he
explains his help coming from a talking mule much to Peter’s chagrin as he
continually finds himself assigned to a psychotic ward. Francis eventually reveals
his speaking ability to Peter’s superior, General Steven (John McIntire), and
together they flush out a spy in their midst. This proves to be just the
beginning of the adventures for Peter with Francis as he cares for the mule
back home after the war where everyone will come to question the man who claims
to have a talking mule.
A motion picture that has not aged well in humor, political
correctness, and with simple creative editing Francis proves to be a case
of a film being a product of its time. A precursor to the booming success that
television would have over the next decade and beyond the trick of making it
look like a mule can talk and playing it for laughs would become far
overshadowed by Mr. Ed. Clearly the simple tricks and humor were a wild
success in 1950 with its box office receipts and spinning off in to a series of
sequels. For those in the theater they loved seeing, and hearing, this wise-cracking
mule bicker with Donald O’Connor providing simple broad reaching comedic
entertainment that launched both the mule character and him human co-star into
stardom. The picture’s use of acceptable-at-the-time vernacular for Japanese
makes the picture a bit more difficult to watch all these years later, but does
provide us a look at perhaps a bit more cleaned up look how divides were
created from the result of WWII.
As a director of rather light comedies, most notably a
series of Abbott and Costello pictures, director Arthur Lubin was attached to
the idea of adapting the many stories of Francis the Talking Mule into motion
picture. After a lukewarm initial reaction from the pitch to Universal a screen
test to prove Lubin could convincingly make a mule appear to talk got him the
greenlight for the project.
Universal saw Francis as an inexpensive project for Donald
O’Connor, the now 25-year-old former child star with a vaudeville background they
struggled to find work for. With his gifts to song, dance, and comedic acting
ability O’Connor was at a crossroads in his career. What little success he
found in Hollywood as a former child actor now looking to find footing as a
adult actor or possibly fade away when he was cast opposite of a mule. It was
his ability to play the straight man and the butt of many jokes that would pay
off. His performance can be likened to a Danny Kaye character as O’Connor performs
simply befuddled and exasperated while everything around him makes it appear he
is the crazy one. Acting opposite of a farm animal could be not easy task, but his
performance elevated his status as his career took off shortly after.
Creative editing and manipulation of the mule’s movement
edited together with the dialogue performed by uncredited actor Chill Willis is
simple, but done to perfection for its time. It was this that got the film
greenlit in the first place, amusing studio producers and eventually movie audiences.
These simple tricks make Francis convincingly speak to Donald O’Connor
throughout the picture with quick quips, remarks, and body language that made
1950s audience believe a mule could talk making many howl with laughter.
There is not much to say about the remainder of the cast as O’Connor
and the mule are the focus of the feature. The brief love interest of Patricia
Medina’s character, Maureen, barely registers as a joke as a short side story
with a whimper of a punchline. Her character is not much more than eye candy
for the soldier character, and the male audiences, and her fascination with
Peter only angers the others soldiers until she too thinks Peter is insane.
John McIntire is perhaps the most significant supporting character as the first
figure Francis eventually talks to that begins the convincing that Peter in not
crazy. The deeper voiced actor known for his many B-western appearances and
television roles is stern yet silly enough to play along in this comedy.
Upon its release in January 1950 Francis was a rather
immediate success for hits comedic appeal. With its low budget and higher box
office numbers Universal achieved a finical success and quickly purchased the
rights to the character of Francis in May for possibility of several more
features. Francis Goes to the Races (1951) marked the return of O’Connor
and his four-legged co-star in what would become six sequels released by the
studio. With O’Connor’s career having skyrocketed the Francis films would regularly
interrupt his more renowned musical features that best manifested his true
talents. O’Connor would eventually exit the series after 1955’s Francis in
the Navy. Each picture followed the usual formula even when O’Connor was replaced
by Mickey Rooney for the seventh feature, Francis in the Haunted House
(1956), which also lacked the direction of Arthur Lubin and voice talent of
Chill Willis, proving to be the final in the series.
With the popularity of the television Arthur Lubin attempted
to adapt the Francis character for the small screen, but was denied the rights.
Because of this Lubin would help create one of early television’s most
memorable shows Mr. Ed, as a direct rip off of the work that brought him
success on the silver screen. The six seasons of Mr. Ed appears to have
overshadowed Francis the Talking Mule most likely due to the heavy syndication
the show saw for several decades, remaining one of the most fondly remembered
series of television’s black and white years.
Today it may be harder to find those that remember Francis.
Donald O’Connor would be far better remembered for his performance in Singin’
in the Rain than he was for his long run with the talking mule. Mr. Ed
continues to be found in classic television outlets. All this is thanks to
Francis the Talking Mule and his small spot in Hollywood history, first
appearing here in this 1950 feature film.
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