Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Francis Joins the WACS 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.

While some may agree with me that Francis Covers the Big Town is a generally more amusing film than Francis Goes to West Point, it may then be something of a disappointment, if an unsurprising one, that the Francis films returned to a military setting for the immediate two follow ups to Francis' sojourn in the "big city" (the final film in the series, Francis in the Haunted House, didn't just jettison a military setting, it jettisoned Donald O'Connor in favor of Mickey Rooney). Frances Joins the WACS finds Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) now once again working in a bank when a computer error ends up assigning him to the WACS. Unsurprisingly, Francis shows up to shepherd Peter through a series of misadventures among a bevy of supposed service women, including Mamie Van Doren and Allison Hayes.

The return to a military setting does provide some decent content for skewering, as in the opening narrated sequence which touts the technological superiority of the American fighting forces, especially then "newfangled" computers that can select the absolutely perfect person for any given assignment, which is, of course, how Peter ends up in the WACS. This is therefore a bit more overtly farcical at times, as in scenes of Peter having to exercise with the women in a bathrobe. Julie Adams (still billing herself as Julia) is the putative love interest, and Zasu Pitts is back recreating her character from the first Francis film. Interestingly, Chill Wills does double duty here, first as the memorable voice of Francis, but also on screen himself as a kind of anti-feminist General who needs a bit of comeuppance. In regard to Wills' "doubling" in this film, it's perhaps salient to note that evidently the only way O'Connor agreed to keep making Francis films was his own chance at "double duty", which is exactly what the next film in the series, Francis in the Navy, offered him.

Francis Joins the WACS Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Francis Joins the WACS, Francis in the Navy and Francis in the Haunted House share a disc. The disc features the following supplements:

• Audio Commentary for Francis Joins the WACS by Author / Film Historian Lee Gambin and Film Journalist / Author Staci Layne Wilson


• Audio Commentary for Francis in the Navy by Author / Film Historian Lee Gamin and Film Historian Paul Anthony Nelson


• Audio Commentary for Francis in the Haunted House by Film Historian Eddy Von Mueller


• Francis Joins the WACS Trailer (SD; 00:58)


• Francis in the Navy Trailer (SD; 2:22)


• Francis in the Haunted House Trailer (SD; 2:07)

Francis Joins the WACS Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.