''Francis Goes to West Point'' is a 1952 American

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

from

Universal-International Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

, produced by Leonard Goldstein, directed by

Arthur Lubin Arthur Lubin (July 25, 1898 – May 11, 1995) was an American film director and producer who directed several ''Abbott & Costello'' films, '' Phantom of the Opera'' (1943), the '' Francis the Talking Mule'' series and created the talking-horse TV ...

, and starring

Donald O'Connor Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule. His b ...

Lori Nelson Dixie Kay Nelson (August 15, 1933August 23, 2020), known professionally as Lori Nelson, was an American actress and model mostly active in the 1950s and early 1960s. She had roles in the TV series ''How to Marry a Millionaire (TV series), How to ...

, Alice Kelley, and Gregg Palmer. The distinctive voice of Francis is a

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentation ...

by actor Chill Wills. This is third film in Universal-International's

Francis the Talking Mule Francis the Talking Mule was a mule character who gained popularity during the 1950s as the star of seven popular Universal-International film comedies. The character originated in the 1946 novel ''Francis'' by former U.S. Army Captain David S ...

series.

Plot

Bumbling former World War II serviceman Peter Stirling is sent to the U. S. Army's military academy at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

as a reward for stopping a plot to blow up his government workplace. After enrolling, he is privately tutored by his old army friend Francis, which gets him into trouble when he reveals that this tutor is one of West Point's very own mule mascots.

Cast

as Peter Stirling *

as Barbara Atwood *Alice Kelley as Cynthia Daniels *

Gregg Palmer Palmer Edwin Lee (January 25, 1927 – October 31, 2015), known by his stage name Gregg Palmer, was an American film and television actor. Born in San Francisco, California, Palmer served in the United States Army Air Corps as a cryptographer i ...

as William Norton (as Palmer Lee, his birthname) * William Reynolds as Wilbur Van Allen *

Les Tremayne Lester Tremayne (16 April 1913 – 19 December 2003) was an English actor. Early life Born in Balham, London, he moved with his family at the age of four to Chicago, Illinois, where he began in community theater. His mother was Dolly Trema ...

as Colonel Daniels *

Otto Hulett Otto Hulett (February 27, 1898 – September 1, 1983) was an American film, television and stage actor. Hulett was born in Chicago, Illinois. As an actor, he was best known for his roles in '' The Mob'' (1951), '' Saturday's Hero'' (1951), an ...

as Coach Chadwick *

David Janssen David Janssen (born David Harold Meyer) (March 27, 1931February 13, 1980) was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Richard Kimble in the television series '' The Fugitive'' (1963–1967). Janssen also ...

as Corporal Thomas *

James Best Jewel Franklin Guy (July 26, 1926 – April 6, 2015), known professionally as James Best, was an American television, film, stage, and voice actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician. Duri ...

as Corporal Ransom

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the '' Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, th ...

had a small, uncredited speaking role as a football player.

Production

As soon as ''Francis Goes to the Races'' was completed, Oscar Brodney was reported in April 1951 as working on a West Point film story for the next Francis feature. Filming began in November 1951, with additional 2nd unit filming at West Point.

Video releases

The original film, ''Francis'' (1950), was released in 1978 as one of the first-ever titles in the new LaserDisc format, DiscoVision Catalog #22-003.
(The DiscoVision Library) It was then re-issued on LaserDisc in May 1994 by MCA/Universal Home Video (Catalog #: 42024) as part of an Encore Edition Double Feature with ''

Francis Goes to the Races ''Francis Goes to the Races'' is a 1951 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International, produced by Leonard Goldstein, directed by Arthur Lubin, that stars Donald O'Connor, Piper Laurie, and Cecil Kellaway. The distinctive voic ...

'' (1951). The first two Francis films were released again in 2004 by Universal Pictures on Region 1 and Region 4

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

, along with the next two in the series, as ''The Adventures of Francis the Talking Mule Vol. 1''. Several years later, Universal released all 7 Francis films as a set on three Region 1 and Region 4 DVDs, ''Francis The Talking Mule: The Complete Collection.''

References

External links

* * *
Review of film
at Variety {{Arthur Lubin 1952 films American black-and-white films 1950s fantasy comedy films Films directed by Arthur Lubin Films scored by Frank Skinner Films scored by Herman Stein Films set in the United States Military Academy Military humor in film Universal Pictures films American fantasy comedy films 1952 comedy films Films about donkeys 1950s English-language films 1950s American films