Francis in the Haunted House | |
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Directed by | Charles Lamont |
Written by | Herbert H. Margolis William Raynor |
Produced by | Robert Arthur |
Starring | Mickey Rooney Virginia Welles |
Cinematography | George Robinson |
Edited by | Milton Carruth |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Universal International Pictures |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.2 million (US) [1] |
Francis in the Haunted House is a 1956 American comedy horror film from Universal-International, produced by Robert Arthur, directed by Charles Lamont, that stars Mickey Rooney and Virginia Welles.
This is the seventh and final film in the Universal-International Francis the Talking Mule series, notably without series director Arthur Lubin, star Donald O'Connor, or Francis' voice actor Chill Wills.
Francis witnesses a murder and then befriends bumbling reporter David Prescott (Mickey Rooney), who may be next in line. With Francis' help and guidance, Prescott uncovers a mystery involving murder, an inheritance, and a spooky old mansion on the edge of town. Francis witnesses two men roll a boulder downhill and crush a speeding car, killing the driver. The killers throw rocks at him,arousing his public service instincts. He telephones Prescott, who is attending a party at City Hall and seems to be making progress courting heiress Lorna Mac Leod; owner of the castle. Prescott brings the police to the murder scene---the victim is one of the Mac Leod family lawyers. Prescott has so much "inside knowledge" of the crime that the Police arrest HIM and demand that he "name his source". Which is a bit difficult for him to do. Police take him back to the castle when they hear another of the family's lawyers has been either murdered or kidnapped from his locked room. Exploring the castle, Prescott was knocked out by a masked assailant and the "murder gun" placed in his hand. Back to the interrogation room.
To help Prescott, Francis decides to reveal himself to District Attorney Reynolds("You've been in politics for 20 years,what's so strange about a talking jackass?"). He convinces the DA to release Prescott on bond. Prescott,to protect Lorna, insists on staying close to the action. The castle has numerous hidden underground passages that can be entered from the woods outside. One room contains paintings and statuary---Francis deduces that somebody is replacing the castle's valuable artworks with forgeries and selling the originals.
Driving to tell the Police about this development, Prescott is ambushed by Jason;hiding in the back seat.Prescott manages to knock him out and tie him up. But during the few minutes Prescott is inside the Police Station, Jason is knifed to death. Back to the interrogation room---where Prescott is subjected to hypnosis,lie detector tests,and truth serum.And still he insists there is such a thing as a Talking Mule.
The city's Mayor is desperate to get things squared away and finally agrees to meet Francis. But all the time tramping around in the cold outdoors has given Francis laryngitis. Prescott mounts Francis and they escape through a hail of police bullets.They hide out in the District Attorney's garage until Francis gets over his illness.
Prescott insists he must sneak back to the castle to protect Lorna----and blunders into an underground dungeon that contains two "missing lawyers" and the GENUINE heiress. The family lawyers had to be "eliminated" one by one because they were the only ones who could have spotted the scam. The villains attempt to flood the dungeon but are foiled by Francis. A villain mounts a horse and charges with a lance---Francis talks the horse into throwing its crooked rider against a wall.
In the end, Prescott has won several rewards and the affections of the actual heiress.
This seventh and final entry in the Francis the Talking Mule series was made without most of the key creative personnel from the earlier films. Leonard Maltin, in his Movie Guide , quotes Donald O'Connor on quitting the series: "When you've made six pictures and the mule still gets more fan mail than you do...." Director Lubin and Chill Wills were also absent, replaced respectively by Charles Lamont and voice actor Paul Frees, who did a close approximation of Wills' voice as Francis.
Mickey Rooney replaced Donald O'Connor as a new but similar character, David Prescott. According to his autobiography, Rooney was originally considered for a United Artists Francis feature film with his company Rooney Inc optioning and then turning down the property [2] before Universal acquired the rights.
Rooney's casting was announced in January 1956. [3]
Charles Lamont was announced as the film's director some weeks later. [4]
Chill Wills, who voiced Francis in the six previous films asked for a salary increase which Universal was unwilling to pay, so the studio auditioned various voice actor replacements, including Mel Blanc, [5] before settling on Paul Frees. [6]
No explanation was given in the film as to why Francis left his original sidekick, Peter Stirling. In the script, Francis says he decided to befriend reporter Prescott because "I once lived on a farm owned by Prescott's uncle and wanted to protect his nephew out of respect for the deceased." With the original elements missing, the film, a standard tale of fake ghosts and gangsters, was poorly received; it was widely reviewed as the weakest entry in the series. [7] [8]
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. [9] 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.
Mickey Rooney was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the silent-film era. He was the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941, and one of the best-paid actors of that era. At the height of a career ultimately marked by declines and comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 16 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized the mainstream United States self-image.
Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred, in succession, with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule.
Michael Joseph Connelly is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. Connelly is the bestselling author of 38 novels and one work of non-fiction, with over 74 million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into 40 languages. His first novel, The Black Echo, won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly's 1997 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of Connelly's novel The Lincoln Lawyer starred Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. Connelly was the President of the Mystery Writers of America from 2003 to 2004.
Burke's Law is an American detective series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1966. The show starred Gene Barry as millionaire captain of Los Angeles Police homicide division Amos Burke, who is chauffeured around to solve crimes in his 1962 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II complete with an early car phone.
Francis may refer to:
Theodore Childress "Chill" Wills was an American actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys quartet.
Francis the Talking Mule is a fictional mule who first appeared in three short stories written for Esquire magazine by David Stern, which he later combined into the 1946 novel Francis. This was the basis of a series of seven Universal-International comedy films released from 1950 to 1956.
Quicksand is a 1950 American film noir that stars Mickey Rooney and Peter Lorre and portrays a garage mechanic's descent into crime. It was directed by Irving Pichel shortly before he was included in the Hollywood blacklist. The film provided Rooney with an opportunity to play against type, performing in a role starkly different from his earlier role as the innocent "nice guy" in MGM's popular Andy Hardy film series.
Keith Andes was an American actor. He is known for films such as Blackbeard the Pirate (1952) and Clash by Night (1952).
Charles Lamont was an American filmmaker, known for directing over 200 titles and producing and writing many others. He directed nine Abbott and Costello comedies and many Ma and Pa Kettle films.
Arthur Lubin was an American film director and producer who directed several Abbott & Costello films, Phantom of the Opera (1943), the Francis the Talking Mule series and created the talking-horse TV series Mister Ed. A prominent director for Universal Pictures in the 1940s and 1950s, he is perhaps best known today as the man who gave Clint Eastwood his first contract in film.
Francis in the Navy is a 1955 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International, produced by Stanley Rubin and directed by Arthur Lubin. The film stars Donald O'Connor and Martha Hyer, and marked the first credited film role of Clint Eastwood. The distinctive voice of Francis is a voice-over by actor Chill Wills.
Francis is a 1950 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International that launched the Francis the Talking Mule film series. Francis is produced by Robert Arthur and directed by Arthur Lubin, and stars Donald O'Connor and Patricia Medina. The distinctive voice of Francis is a voice-over by actor Chill Wills.
Francis Goes to the Races is a 1951 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International, produced by Leonard Goldstein, directed by Arthur Lubin, that stars Donald O'Connor, Piper Laurie, and Cecil Kellaway. The distinctive voice of Francis is a voice-over by actor Chill Wills.
Francis Goes to West Point is a 1952 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International, produced by Leonard Goldstein, directed by Arthur Lubin, and starring Donald O'Connor, Lori Nelson, Alice Kelley, and Gregg Palmer. The distinctive voice of Francis is a voice-over by actor Chill Wills.
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.
Francis Joins the WACS is a 1954 American black-and-white comedy film from Universal-International, produced by Ted Richmond, directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Donald O'Connor, Julie Adams, ZaSu Pitts, Mamie Van Doren and Chill Wills in two roles, including that of the distinctive voice of Francis in voice-over.
Sidney L. Miller was an American actor, director and songwriter.
In The Next Room is a 1930 American pre-Code mystery film released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. and directed by Edward F. Cline. The movie stars Jack Mulhall and Alice Day. The film was based on the play of the same title by Eleanor Belmont and Harriet Ford, which itself was derived from the book The Mystery of the Boule Cabinet by Burton E. Stevenson.
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