Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Francis Goes to the Races Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 22, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Francis the Talking Mule 7 Film Collection.

None other than the legendary Stephen Sondheim opined that "you gotta have a gimmick" in one of his more celebrated lyrics for Gypsy, which true trivia fans will know was subtitled as "a musical fable" in its original Broadway incarnation. That sobriquet may help to elucidate that Sondheim was offering near "Aesop moral" levels of advice about what was needed to achieve success in the wild and woolly world of show business. In that regard, Arthur Lubin had a long and interesting career in both the theater and film (and, later, television) industries, and his career in Hollywood lasted for decades, resulting in a number of well remembered projects in a rather dazzling array of genres, including several films starring Abbott & Costello, the 1943 version of Phantom of the Opera and Technicolor exotica like Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. If some online data aggregators insist that Lubin is "best remembered" these days for having offered Clint Eastwood his first contract, some folks may counter that Lubin is at least as "immortal" (in certain circles, anyway) for having carved out one of the weirdest niches in show business history by (here comes the "gimmick" part) first spearheading a series of films featuring a talking mule, and then slightly tweaking that premise some years later for the decidedly similar television sitcom Mister Ed: The Complete Series (note that the link points to a DVD release). Now Kino Lorber and Universal are offering the complete Francis the Talking Mule series on Blu-ray, all advertised as having been "newly remastered in 2K", and all having some rather interesting and surprisingly far reaching commentaries included as bonus features.

When one of my friends posted to his social media account that he was involved with the Kino Lorber release of all the Francis films, knowing that he knew of my longstanding research into Frances Farmer, I joked that the Francis films were still more fact based than Frances, kind of riffing on the fact that I often see Farmer's first name misspelled with an "i". Somewhat hilariously in that regard, then, the female character portrayed by Piper Laurie in this film is named Frances (with an "e"), and that homonym is what actually "introduces" her to Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) when Stirling is calling for his mule friend at a rural location. Frances turns out to be part of a family that runs a horse farm, and unsurprisingly, Peter and Francis (with an "i") of course end up involved in various shenanigans at a nearby racetrack, which ultimately gets more and more farcical as both "house" detective types and organized criminal types start to wonder how Peter has such an unerring feel for who's going to win (I'll let you guess how he manages to find out).

This is another film in the Francis franchise that makes comedic hay out of the fact that virtually everyone believes Peter is crazy when he quite honestly mentions that he has a relationship with a talking mule. Interestingly in that regard, though, this particular film like several of the follow ups lets Francis talk in front of a variety of characters (something that is then conveniently forgotten for whatever the next film is), even if in one scene Francis may have had a bit too much to drink and is therefore even more uninhibited that he typically is. It's kind of fun to see a "serious" actress like Piper Laurie in lightweight fluff like this, but she's absolutely charming, as is the rest of the supporting cast, which includes the marvelous Cecil Kellaway as her grandfather.

Francis Goes to the Races Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Francis Goes to the Races is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber and Universal with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.38:1. From a detail standpoint, this is quite similar in appearance to the first Francis film, though I'd argue that this element has less of the recurrent damage seen in Francis, and as a result may offer a somewhat more consistent viewing experience. That said, there can still certainly be inarguably visible damage, as can be seen in screenshot 2, for just one example. Detail levels generally are quite good throughout, with an understanding that some stock footage of races don't offer the same depth and clarity. Fine detail is okay if not overwhelming, though once again Lubin's preference for midrange framings may play into things. Grain is again pretty thick at times, but resolves without any issues.

Francis Goes to the Races Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Francis at the Races features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that, again, is quite like the audio on the first Francis film in that there really aren't any major issues in terms of delivery of dialogue and effects, but there's still a noticeable thinness in the upper frequencies in particular as well as some prevalent background hiss. The race sequences with sounds of announcements and crowd noises can sound a bit artificial and boxy at times. Optional English subtitles are available.

Francis Goes to the Races Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Francis the Talking Mule and Francis Goes to the Races share a disc. The disc features the following supplements:

• Audio Commentary for Francis the Talking Mule by Author / Film Historian Lee Gambin


• Audio Commentary for Francis Goes to the Races by Film Historian Eddy Van Mueller


• Francis Goes to the Races Trailer (HD; 1:03)

Francis Goes to the Races Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Francis gets to quip, "Who ever heard of a talking horse?" in this film, which of course will strike lovers of Mister Ed in particular as a kind of cheekily prescient comment. Francis at the Races manages to deliver some decent laughs, many courtesy of the antics of the likes of Jesse White as a harried racetrack detective trying to figure out how Peter can repeatedly hit the veritable trifecta in every race. Technical merits are again fine, if not outstanding, and while some may question commentator Eddy Van Mueller's assertion about how "important" this film is, his analysis is good listen as well. Recommended.