Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Francis in the Haunted House 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.

Eddie Von Mueller's wisecracking commentary offers a number of bon mots about this final Francis film, including asking the perhaps impertinent question as to why Molly, the female mule assigned to portraying ostensibly male Francis, wasn't accorded the same nomination respect by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences afforded to other gender bending notables like Gwyneth Paltrow and Hilary Swank. The Francis films often struggled pretty mightily to get Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) and Francis (voiced by Chill Wills until this film) together due to some kind of preposterous plot machinations, but there's absolutely no discussion in this film about what might have happened to Peter, with Francis kind of assuming "star" status here, and with Mickey Rooney's sad sack reporter David Prescott just kind of plopped down into things as Francis' new best human friend.

This is a pretty typical "mish mash" of comedy and horror film a la some of the Abbott and Costello features or even the old Bob Hope evergreen The Ghost Breakers (note the link points to a UK release, since that's the one I reviewed), but the comedy here is fitful at best, though I'd personally say that's not particularly the fault of Rooney, who actually matriculates into the role of Francis' sidekick with decent charm. This is another entry where the supporting cast is just a cornucopia of great, well remembered, faces like Richard Deacon and David Janssen, the latter of whom actually has more than one Francis outing on his resume. Francis' memorable voice is offered this time by the inimitable Paul Frees, who was obviously told to ape (mule?) Chill Wills' distinctive sound.

Francis in the Haunted House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Francis in the Haunted House is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber and Universal with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. With a haunted house setting, there's more of a quasi-chiaroscuro look to things at times in this presentation, and the good news is that blacks are nicely deep and contrast is rather winning throughout the presentation. However, some of the omnipresent darkness can lead to slight deficits in shadow detail and especially overall fine detail at times. "New" director Charles Lamont, replacing longtime series shepherd Arthur Lubin, seems to not be so loathe to offer something other than a series of midrange framings, and fine detail enjoys an uptick in some closer camera work. Grain is once again a bit on the gritty side at times, but actually resolves more tightly in this presentation than in some of the others in this set. Damage is relatively minor and inconspicuous. My score is 3.75.

Francis in the Haunted House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Once again, a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track is provided for Francis in the Haunted House, as with the other tracks in this set. The supposedly "spooky" effects may not have a ton of depth and reverberance, but dialogue and score are both represented very well for the most part and there's really no overt damage of any kind to report. Optional English subtitles are available.

Francis in the Haunted House 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 in the Haunted House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This halting attempt to rejigger the Francis franchise was probably doomed from the get go, and if it's not spectacularly funny or frankly ever very scary, it's decent enough for a low budget midlevel comedy. Rooney and Frees do their best, but there was something kind of special about the interplay between O'Connor and Wills that this film just can't quite duplicate. Technical merits are generally solid, and the commentary very enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making purchase.