6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A computer error assigns junior officer Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) by mistake to the Women's Army Corps. Peter's old friend Francis once again helps him through his various military and personal problems, including several familiar stays (once again) in the base's psychiatric ward.
Starring: Donald O'Connor, Julie Adams, Chill Wills, Mamie Van Doren, Lynn BariComedy | 100% |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
War | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.00:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.00:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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.
Francis Joins the WACS is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber and Universal with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.00:1, a perhaps somewhat surprising aspect ratio for this film and its immediate follow up, whereas Francis in the Haunted House "reverts" to 1.85:1. This can be a somewhat fuzzy looking presentation at times, with occasionally less than fulsome fine detail levels, but it has a nicely organic appearance for the most part, with solid contrast and well resolved grain field. Fine detail tends to show itself the most on things like the fabrics of the uniforms and Francis' typically bristly fir. Commendably, there's very little in the way of distracting age related wear and tear.
Francis Joins the WACS features another decent sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track, though as with several of the other audio tracks included on this set, there can be a bit of background noise, and occasional upper frequencies, like the choral opening (which commentator Lee Gambin discloses is the actual WAC "anthem") can sound a little brash. Narration and dialogue are all presented without any major issues whatsoever. Optional English subtitles are available.
Francis Joins the WACS, Francis in the Navy and Francis in the Haunted House share a disc. The disc features the following supplements:
Some of the battle of the sexes comedy in this film will probably strike contemporary sensibilities as decidedly old fashioned, but there's a certain charm in this film as hapless Peter attempts to help a gaggle of women win their version of war games. Technical merits are generally solid, though I recommend those interested to parse the screenshots to get an idea of general clarity and detail levels. As with all of the films in this set, the commentary is very enjoyable. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1955
1966
High and Dry
1954
1963
1962
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1985
1986
1945
1968
Warner Archive Collection
1963
Limited Edition to 3000
2012
1971
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1970
2016
1940
1965