5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
U. S. Army officer Lt. Peter Sterling (Donald O'Connor) gets mistaken for his lookalike in the U. S. Navy, Bosun's Mate 'Slicker' Donevan (Donald O'Connor), and as a result gets promptly shipped to Donevan's base. With his old pal Francis, Sterling continues his misadventures, this time in the Navy.
Starring: Donald O'Connor, Martha Hyer, Richard Erdman, Jim Backus, Clint EastwoodFamily | 100% |
Comedy | 69% |
Fantasy | 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 | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
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 in the Navy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber and Universal with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.00:1, mimicking the aspect ratio of its immediate predecessor. While admittedly somewhat similar in appearance to Francis in the WACS, I'd argue that clarity and detail levels are probably at least marginally improved in this presentation, and fine detail in particular tends to look very good despite once again there being a relative lack of extreme close-ups (screenshot 15 is a notable exception). Some of the presentation definitely has the same kind of fuzzy look that Francis Joins the WACS does, but for the most part there's a commendable level of detail supported by solid contrast and an organically resolved (if at times pretty heavy) grain field. There's some day for night footage late in the film that is not especially convincing.
Francis in the Navy features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that has a nicely full bodied range and which mostly avoids some of the thin brashness that can be heard in the higher frequencies of some of the other soundtracks included on this set. A bouncy, boisterous music score is warm sounding, and dialogue and effects are all rendered without any major issues. Optional English subtitles are available. My score is 3.75.
Francis Joins the WACS, Francis in the Navy and Francis in the Haunted House share a disc. The disc features the following supplements:
This is probably a step down from Francis Joins the WACS, but like several other films in this series, it's going to be a treasure trove of character actors for Baby Boomers in particular, who will recognize everyone from Jim Backus to, yep, Clint Eastwood tooling around the edges of the story. Technical merits are generally solid, and as with all of the films in this set, the commentary is very enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1951
1956
1962
1952
High and Dry
1954
1954
1985
1962
1970-1975
1969
Francis the Talking Mule
1950
1971
1945
1968
1981
1986
Limited Edition to 3000
2012
1965
1968
1981