At last! After three unsuccessful attempts at entertainment, this fourth entry worked well for me and is the best of the bunch so far. Francis the Talking Mule and his master, Donald O'Connor (or is it the other way around?) go to New York (the setting alone perks things up a bit) where they become mixed up in all sorts of trouble, including a murder trial. This installment is better written with more time devoted to the donkey, who's actually pretty funny for a change. The script also makes better use of its supporting characters and fashions a love affair for the bumbling O'Connor.
*** out of ****
Francis Covers the Big Town
1953
Adventure / Comedy / Crime / Family / Fantasy / Romance
Francis Covers the Big Town
1953
Adventure / Comedy / Crime / Family / Fantasy / Romance
6.3Plot summary
U.S. Army veteran Peter Stirling and his friend, Francis the talking Mule (who was not a donkey),arrive in New York City, where Peter has ambitions to become a big-time newspaper reporter, but can only get a job as a copy boy. Francis, the talking MULE (and not a donkey),though is boarding at the stables where the horses of the city's mounted police are kept, and mounted-police horses are known for being gossips, so Francis gets lots of inside information regarding local crime activity, passes it on to Peter, and Peter is soon leading the town in big-time scoops. This pleases his city-editor to no end, but the local gangsters are not amused.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Donald O'Connor as Peter Stirling
Chill Wills as Francis the Talking Mule
Hal Smith as Vance
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 791.62 MB
990*720
English 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
Francis Covers the Big Town (1953) ***
Reviewed by
Francis Covers the Big Town was another enjoyable entry in Francis, the Talking Mule series
This is the fourth of the Francis, the Talking Mule series entries. This time, Peter Stirling is in New York, working up to be a reporter for the newspaper there. At first, he's able to avoid revealing his source because writers of paper articles are supposed to be sworn to secrecy but one knows that won't last for long. It's also a matter of time before Francis (voiced once again by Chill Wills) reveals his vocabulary to anyone other than Donald O'Connor. This time he has two women to pick from: Yvette Duguay and Nancy Guild. One's cynical and sophisticated and one's more girl-next-door who also happens to be Italian (at least as a character in the movie). Guess which one wins? Anyway, this was another pretty enjoyable entry whenever Francis talks and when Peter tries explaining himself and not much else other than that. This will be my last review of the series even though three more eps were made since the DVD I saw this on only had the first four entries. Maybe someday...Actually, I may review Francis in the Navy which is on YouTube as of this moment...
Reviewed by
I prefer this entry to 1950's 'Francis' and 1952's 'Francis Goes to West Point'
'Francis Covers the Big Town' drags on a fair bit, with that said it's marginally better than two of its three predecessors.
The lack of an army-related plot is a big plus, with a visit to New York City as a wannabe journalist making for a decent storyline. As noted, it does lose steam as the 85 minute or so run time ticks on, but I prefer this entry to 1950's 'Francis' and 1952's 'Francis Goes to West Point'.
Donald O'Connor - even though his character is made a tad more unlikeable here, intentionally so I presume - remains the only cast member worth talking about; well, alongside voice actor Chill Wills, I guess.
Just the three films left to watch from this series...