by FilmInk Staff
So… Francis the Talking Mule?
“Love Francis. No irony. Genuinely love him.”
Why?
“Growing up, there were always Francis moves on television in the afternoons on weekends. Along with Abbott and Costello and Ma and Pa Kettle. I loved them all.”
What’s the appeal for Francis?
“A talking mule is inherently funny. But also, the films were cast brilliantly – Donald O’Connor isn’t remembered much these days apart from his number in Singing in the Rain but he was a fantastic talent. And Chill Wills who did the voice of the mule was perfectly cast. They had this wonderful bickering but also protective relationship that came through. They did a Francis movie without either, Francis in the Haunted House, and that’s not a bad movie, it’s just not the same.
“I’m also a fan of director Arthur Lubin, who made the first six movies in the series. He’s one of those journeymen who never got a lot of critical love but who made heaps of movies that I loved: the early Abbott and Costello films, the Claude Rains Phantom of the Opera, White Savage.”
So, an audio commentary for every Francis film. That’s a lot of audio commentary.
“Yep. But the cool things about Francis movies is every one is a little different and has their own story. For instance, Francis Covers the Big Town has a journalism background, which has a connection to David Stenn, who created the character. I also discovered a surprisingly tragic story of the female lead, Yvette Duguay. There are a few other good stories in there, but you’ll have to listen to the commentary to find out.”
A lot of random people pop up in the films, don’t they?
“Yes. Universal, who made the films, had a long contract roster at the time and they put a lot of their younger actors in the Francis movies – people like Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Clint Eastwood and Leonard Nimoy. They’d also put in some top class character actors too like Gale Gordon and Zasu Pitts.”
If people listen to this commentary and enjoy it, what others can they listen to?
“I’ve done a few for Kino Lorber: the Laurence Olivier-Katherine Hepburn-George Cukor TV movie Love Among the Ruins (1975), the Michael Winner film The System (1964) and the Errol Flynn-Maureen O’Hara pirate film Against All Flags (1953). For Umbrella Entertainment, I did The Overlanders (1946) and Kangaroo (1952).”
I live in the UK is the film set region 2 and pal ,Paul in Huddersfield ,uk