Francis the Talking Mule-Volume 1 (1950)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1950
Running Time	331:45
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Version Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Arthur Lubin
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Donald O'Connor Patricia Medina Zasu Pitts Ray Collins John McIntire Eduard Franz Howland Chamberlain James Todd Robert Warwick Piper Laurie Tony Curtis Mikel Conrad Chill Wills
Case	?
RPI	$34.95	Music	Frank Skinner Walter Scharf

    This two-disc DVD set is ideal brain candy for the Mr. Ed generation, or for anyone (like me) who saw a lot of the old Francis films on television during the 1960s and 1970s. For those of you who are new to talking mules (surely you have at least seen a talking donkey on screen with his green friend?) the films follow the (mis)adventures of young Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) and his friend Francis, The Talking Mule. Six sequels capitalised on the success of the first film, Francis, The Talking Mule (hmm, that name seems familiar), with Mickey Rooney taking over from O'Connor in the final one. The discs under review include the first four films in the series in release order, with two movies on each DVD.

    The film which started it all is, as mentioned, Francis, The Talking Mule (running time 87:12). American army officer (well, 2nd looie - err, lieutenant) Peter Stirling has managed to lose his unit while on patrol in Burma during World War II. He stumbles across an army mule in a clearing, a mule who just happens to talk, and the rest is history. Before long Francis (with an 'i' not an 'e') has taken Peter in hand (err, hoof) and helps him become something of a hero (and a recurring patient in a mental clinic when he tries to explain just who (or what) is helping him). While the film basically rests upon just the one joke it has an innocence that carries it along at a good pace, and Peter's attempts at speaking French to impress a pretty young war refugee are very funny (my young ones are still running around the house saying "pardon me mademosl").

    The sequel, Francis Goes To The Races (running time 83:50), was released the next year, 1951. As with the first film, David Stern, the author of the book which started this all off had a hand in the screenplay. Peter has been fired from the bank job he had in the first film, and is on the road. Francis finds a cousin of his at a horse racing ranch along the way ("Does he talk?" asks Peter - "Whoever heard of a talking horse?" answers the talking mule). The two soon find themselves at the track, caught up with big races and small time crooks. Despite a pleasant performance by Piper Laurie as the romantic interest this film was a little flat for me, and the least successful of the four.

    Picking up the pace a bit we come to Francis Goes To West Point (running time 78:10) released in 1952. Peter Stirling is now working at a nuclear plant (personally I wouldn't let such a sad case near a nuclear reactor). With a little help from Francis he manages to foil some would-be saboteurs and in recognition of his time in Burma is offered a place at West Point to train as an army officer. Francis manages to tag along and watches Peter slip to 687th place in a class of 687. Well, Francis' motherly side comes through and he helps Peter through his troubles in and out of the classroom. The shortest entry in this set of four films, this one just feels tighter and is a return to form after the slightly disappointing second film.

    The fourth film in the series, and the final film in this set, is Francis Covers The Big Time (running time 82:33), also released in 1952. Once again Peter and Francis are on the road, this time to the Big Apple. Peter is wondering what job would suit him: "What would I be good at?" he pensively asks, "Getting into trouble" Francis (rather wisely I thought) replies. He ends up working for a newspaper, and with plenty of tips from Francis is able to work his way up to being a reporter, with the benefit that in this line of work at least he has some chance of keeping his source of information secret (if he was bright enough that is - my eldest is convinced Peter is "such a girl - probably blonde" at heart). My family audience enjoyed this one just as much as the rest.

    If you have seen any of these films you will know what to expect from them all. For the new viewer, they are a bit of harmless fun which will occasion the odd moment of humour, and possibly some nostalgia when some better known actors show up in the odd bit part (including Tony Curtis and David Janssen of The Fugitive fame). Some of the jokes are a bit repetitive (they would probably have been nice and familiar when the films were viewed a year apart as released), but O'Connor (you may remember him from Singin' In The Rain) is personable (if rather brainless) in the role of Peter Stirling. Likewise, Chill Wills is excellent in the uncredited role of the voice of Francis (his best known film role is in the John Wayne version of The Alamo - from memory he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in that film). While there are no Extras on offer here you do get 4 films for the price of one, which makes this great value for family viewing with the kids on a rainy day.

Video

    The video transfer for these films is pretty good given their age and the fact that this is basically a budget release. I'm not sure if any restoration work has been done, and the quality does vary from film to film, but the overall result is pleasing. There is some stock war footage used in the first film which looks older and more worn than the film itself.

    The films are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, non 16x9 enhanced, which was their original theatrical release ratio.

    The films are reasonably sharp, with fair shadow detail and no low level noise. In the first film take a look around 26:16 to check out the shadow detail, and a little later the beads of sweat on Peter as he moves through the jungle show up a nice level of general detail.

    The films are presented in their original Black & White, with a nice fresh look and good gradation of greys across the scale. The second film is a little more harsh in tonal range than the rest.

    There is some minor telecine wobble in the opening credits on the first film, and all of them exhibit occasional small positive artefacts. During the fourth film you can see some minor aliasing on the editor's tie at 34:10 which is a good example of the sort of aliasing that happens across the films, but it is infrequent. I only spotted one piece of significant damage; at 28:37 in the first film there appears to be a missing frame or two and the picture jumps. The second film has a bit more wear than the rest, but overall they are in pretty good shape for their age.

    The English for the Hearing Impaired titles are good, with frequent cues for non dialogue audio (such as "monkeys screeching" and "soothing instrumental music"). The transcription of dialogue is also very good.

    I did not notice any layer change - presumably it is between the two films on each disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio transfer on these discs mirrors the original mono sound of the films. The quality is acceptable for a mono track, and this sort of material would probably gain nothing from a surround remix.

    The only audio track on the discs is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track encoded at a bitrate of 192 Kb/s. When listening to these tracks in Dolby Digital mode my amplifier projects a sound field where dialogue placement is indistinct, so that I listened to all of the films in Pro Logic mode by preference, so the following comments are based upon this configuration.

    Dialogue is clear at all times, with good audio sync. As the films are dialogue driven this is "a good thing".

    The music (by Frank Skinner in the first two films, uncredited in the second two) does the job without being too memorable. It is mixed at a satisfactory level compared with the rest of the audio.

    There is no surround activity to mention, except that dialogue is placed nicely towards the screen in ProLogic mode. With the overall volume level adjusted to a comfortable level the dialogue was strident at times in the first two films. There is little use of the subwoofer for bass support, even during the odd explosion during the fighting scenes in the first film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are no Extras, but then there are 4 films in the set at a decent price, so it would be a little churlish to complain. As this is a 7 film series, we may see some Extras padding out the 3 films in Volume 2, assuming a Volume 2 is on the way.

Menu

    The menu is static and allows you to choose either the first or second film on each disc. You are then taken to a second menu. From this menu you can Play the film, select a Scene (each film has 18 Chapter Stops) or enable Subtitles.

Extra One

    Move along please, I already told you there are no Extras.

    The Region 4 and the Region 1 versions of this DVD set appear to be identical so that there is no preference for one over the other.

    This is an enjoyable compilation at a decent price. My kids have really taken to these, so they have more than nostalgia value. The prints are in pretty good shape - it would be nice to see more older films released in this sort of collection (Astaire and Rogers please RKO). I enjoyed watching these discs. If you have seen any of the films in the series you will know what to expect for yourself - they are all pretty much alike. My overall rating is a little higher than it would normally be for a DVD with no Extras - this accounts for the good value provided in being able to purchase 4 enjoyable family films for 20 or 30 dollars.

    The video transfer is quite good for a fairly old set of films, which would probably have been pretty low budget features at the time.

    The sound is serviceable mono.

    There are no Extras, there are 4 films.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall