Francis Goes to the Races

This film begins with a short sequence in which "Pete's" boss faints upon hearing "Francis" talk and Pete says, "Here we go again," after which the opening credits roll. During the fifties, for children, grandmas & great aunts, the Francis ¨franc(h)ise¨ used to be rather fun. Anyone who watched those movies was aware that before long Pete (Donald O'Connor) got himself in trouble and before long it was Francis the Talking Mule who bailed him out. It was essential to understand the science behind the movie's premise: mules can talk to horses. You also learned that Francis' great aunt was a Derby winner. More recently, film buffs have learned that Francis' real name was Molly, and she was trained for all the Francis films by Les Hilton, who went on to train the horse who played "Mr. Ed" in the 1960's television series of same name.