Francis the Talking Mule 7 Film Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Francis the Talking Mule 7 Film Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 22, 2022

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.

For reviews of the seven films included on this release, please click on the following links:

Francis Blu-ray review

Francis Goes to the Races Blu-ray review

Francis Goes to West Point Blu-ray review

Francis Covers the Big Town Blu-ray review

Francis Joins the WACS Blu-ray review

Francis in the Navy Blu-ray review

Francis in the Haunted House Blu-ray review

Francis the Talking Mule 7 Film Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Francis the Talking Mule 7 Film Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality is assessed in the above linked reviews.

Francis the Talking Mule 7 Film Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Each film has a commentary and some have trailers. See the above linked reviews for detailed listings. Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Francis the Talking Mule 7 Film Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Francis films are obviously never going to be mistaken for High Art, but they're often a lot of fun and several of them are surprisingly funny. Kino Lorber has assembled all seven of the Francis films with generally at least presentable technical merits, and with all of the films having some very well done commentaries. Recommended.