IMDb RATING
6.5/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
During World War II, a junior American Army officer, Lt. Peter Stirling, gets sent to the psychiatric ward whenever he insists that an Army mule named Francis speaks to him.During World War II, a junior American Army officer, Lt. Peter Stirling, gets sent to the psychiatric ward whenever he insists that an Army mule named Francis speaks to him.During World War II, a junior American Army officer, Lt. Peter Stirling, gets sent to the psychiatric ward whenever he insists that an Army mule named Francis speaks to him.
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
- Director
- Writer
- David Stern(novel)
- Stars
Top credits
- Director
- Writer
- David Stern(novel)
- Stars
Videos2
John McIntire
- Lt. General Stevensas Lt. General Stevens
- (as John McIntyre)
Tony Curtis
- Captain Jonesas Captain Jones
- (as Anthony Curtis)
Molly
- Francisas Francis
- (as Francis)
Robert Anderson
- Captain Grantas Captain Grant
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- David Stern(novel) (screenplay)
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
Storyline
The truthful soldier Stirling didn't know how to lie about his source of information, the talking army Mule, Francis, so he was treated as a lunatic and led to one after another hilarious situations, where the mule was the only one that appeared in his right mind. In the process of all this, the mule assisted in uncovering a spy, Maureen, who pretended to be lost among the jungles. —Winston Song
- Taglines
- You'll remember "Francis" as long as you can LAUGH!
- Genres
- Certificate
- Approved
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaIncluded among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.
- GoofsWhen Francis is loaded on a Douglas C-47 to be transported to the US, the insignias on the fuselage show the red bar in the white rectangles on either side of the white star on a blue background. This insignia was not adopted until January 14, 1947, nearly a year and a half after the end of the war on September 2, 1945.
- Quotes
Francis the Talking Mule: I hope to kiss a duck I can talk!
- Crazy creditsThe hand of Peter Stirling open the pages of the novel revealing the credits of the film.
- ConnectionsFeatured in It's Showtime (1976)
Top review
Francis is a good beginning for the series involving a talking mule
After years of only reading about this series, I finally watched the first entry starring Donald O'Connor with Chill Wills as the voice of the talking mule known as Francis. Donald tells his banker boss about his World War II exploits as the film flashes back to when he was a second lieutenant in the army. So he encounters Francis and when he tells his superiors how he got certain info, that's when the fun starts. I was quite guffawing at many of the scenes and lines even though the DVD I saw this on has some scenes skipping. (Thank goodness one of them wasn't the brief shot of Tony Curtis in one of his earliest appearances especially since I just watched his future wife, Janet Leigh, in Words and Music!) So on that note, I recommend Francis. P.S. Since I always like to cite when someone from my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-is in something else, here it's Frank Faylen as a soldier who spits a lot!
helpful•30
- tavm
- Aug 2, 2015
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Fancis
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $150,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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