Francis Covers the Big Town | |
---|---|
Directed by | Arthur Lubin |
Written by |
Oscar Brodney (story and screenplay) David Stern (characters) |
Produced by | Leonard Goldstein |
Starring |
Donald O'Connor Yvette Duguay Gene Lockhart Nancy Guild |
Cinematography | Carl E. Guthrie |
Edited by | Milton Carruth |
Music by |
Frank Skinner Herman Stein |
Production company | Universal Pictures |
Distributed by | Universal-International |
Release date |
|
Running time | 86 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.8 million (US) [1] |
Francis Covers the Big Town is a 1953 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International, produced by Leonard Goldstein, directed by Arthur Lubin, that stars Donald O'Connor, Yvette Duguay, and Gene Lockhart. The distinctive voice of Francis is a voice-over by actor Chill Wills.
This is the fourth film in Universal-International's Francis the Talking Mule series continuing the misadventures of Peter Stirling and his friend Francis. Diabolique argued it was the best in the series. [2]
Peter lands a job at a big New York City newspaper and while on assignment gets framed for a murder.
Production of the film was announced in July 1951 and was to be the third in the Francis series. [3]
Oscar Brodney was assigned to write the script. [4] David Stern reportedly also worked on the script. [5]
Filming started in August 1951 and involved ten days location shooting in New York. [6]
Francis was flown to New York and back on a cargo plane, which cost $700 plus airfares for his trainer and two handlers. [7]
At one stage of production, the film was going to be known as Francis, Racket Buster. [8] [9]
Director Arthur Lubin complained during filming that he was becoming typecast as an animal director. He hoped to make The Interruption from a suspense story by W. W. Mason "just to remind producers that I can direct people too." [10]
The original film, Francis (1950), was released in 1978 as one of the first-ever titles in the new LaserDisc format, DiscoVision Catalog #22-003. [11] It was then re-issued on LaserDisc in May 1994 by MCA/Universal Home Video (Catalog #: 42024) as part of an Encore Edition Double Feature with Francis Goes to the Races (1951).
The first two Francis films were released again in 2004 by Universal Pictures on Region 1 and Region 4 DVD, along with the next two in the series, as The Adventures of Francis the Talking Mule Vol. 1. Several years later, Universal released all 7 Francis films as a set on three Region 1 and Region 4 DVDs, Francis The Talking Mule: The Complete Collection.