Francis Goes to West Point

Starring: Donald O'Connor, Lori Nelson, Alice Kelley, Gregg Palmer, William Reynolds, Les Tremayne, Otto Hulett, Chill Wills (voice)
Directed by: Arthur Lubin
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
1952

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Francis gets Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) into trouble again when he helps him stop a terrorist bomb threat. Peter gets enrolled at West Point, where Francis rallies to help him once again.

Review:
Tim: The third Francis movie gets Peter Stirling back to his roots from the first film, once again having a military connection to the story. I was slightly disappointed in this, as there are so many other areas they could have explored- it felt a little unnecessary to jump back to the military. For that reason and a few other flaws, this film is a step back in quality.

I actually liked the opening sequence better than the rest of the film. Francis helps Peter stop a plot to blow up a government building. This was a great start to the film, as it encapsulated everything good about these films- Peter is helped by his talking mule (who's smarter than he is) to achieve things he could never have done alone. It was surprisingly exciting to see whether he could stop the plot or not. I wish the film was more like that opening sequence. Instead, Peter uses the notoriety from that to get enrolled in West Point. It did feel a little redundant to have him in the Army again, although setting this in the military academy and having him go through basic training was a bit different. At least they weren't in the Burmese jungles again.

It was interesting to see how this film focused much more on Stirling and a few supporting actors. It felt like Francis' role was diminished, which I didn't care for. Francis is the best part of these movies and I wanted to see more of him, not less. I liked seeing new aspects of Francis- he clearly has extensive expertise in mathematics, military maneuvers, and football. It was a little absurd to think about the sheer volume of this mule's expertise and knowledge, but it was humorous if you're willing to suspend your disbelief.

I thought the film did a less than stellar job of building up the supporting characters. I couldn't tell you a single supporting character's name, and I just finished the film. They weren't distinct or particularly interesting. Their subplots never felt fully developed or resolved, so it felt like a waste of time. I wish some of the supporting characters were cut (because developing them seems too hard for the crew) so we could spend more time with Peter and Francis.

The film felt a little disjointed because the beginning of the film was all about officer training and then the second half of the movie was all about football. The transition wasn't very smooth. I liked seeing the football sequences, but it didn't feel like a natural progression of the story. That was a negative. Now, while the film has flaws, there's still some positives. It's genuinely fun to see the super smart Francis dealing with less intelligent humans. There wasn't a lot of scenes here where people thought Peter was crazy for talking to a mule, but they did shoe in a few of those moments. I thought Donald O'Connor was slightly better in the role this time around. He seemed more comfortable and the writing allowed him to still be a bit dumb but not a total moron.

When you add up the positives and negatives, Francis Goes to West Point is about on par with the original movie and a step back from Francis Goes to the Races. It's an okay movie, but we deserve better.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Francis, Francis Goes to the Races