Directed by:
Arthur LubinScreenplay:
Devery FreemanCinematography:
Carl E. GuthrieCast:
Donald O'Connor, Martha Hyer, Jim Backus, Clint Eastwood, David Janssen, Leigh Snowden, Martin Milner, Paul Burke, Myrna Hansen, William Forrest, Timothy Carey (more)Plots(1)
After some previous military experience (FRANCIS GOES TO WEST POINT, 1952, and FRANCIS JOINS THE WACS, 1954), Francis, the jabbering ass, telephones his Army pal Lt. Peter Stirling (Donald O'Connor) to inform him that he, Francis, has been drafted into the Navy. Lt. Stirling comes to the aid of the muttering mule (who is about to be auctioned off as surplus), but is mistaken for Slicker Donovan, a bosun's mate (also played by O'Connor) who looks just like him. Slicker's pals think he's gone nuts and is impersonating an Army lieutenant. Of course, Pvt. Francis eventually straightens everything out. A stellar cast of supporting players who, like Francis' small-screen relative Mister Ed, earned a place in television history--Jim Backus ("I Married Joan," "Gilligan's Island," and "Mr. Magoo"), David Janssen ("The Fugitive"), Martin Milner ("Route 66" and "Adam-12"), and, in only his second motion picture appearance, Clint Eastwood, who would first gain notoriety on "Rawhide." (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Kenneth MacDonald
USA
Best movies:
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Brute Force (1947)
The Jayhawkers (1959)
Olan Soule
USA
Best movies:
North by Northwest (1959)
The Towering Inferno (1974)
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Art Gilmore
USA
Best movies:
Rear Window (1954)
The Killing (1956) - narrator
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Harvey Parry
USA
Best movies:
Beggars of Life (1928)
Raging Bull (1980)
The Killing (1956)
Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Defiant Ones (1958)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Joey Ray
USA
Best movies:
White Heat (1949)
Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
Mighty Joe Young (1949)
David Thursby
UK
Best movies:
Captains Courageous (1937)
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
The Heiress (1949)
Henry Kulky
USA
Best movies:
Mighty Joe Young (1949)
Compulsion (1959)
Call Northside 777 (1948)
Walter Woolf King
USA
Best movies:
A Night at the Opera (1935)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Airport (1970)
Robert Slaven
Best movies:
Francis in the Navy (1955)
Erville Alderson
USA
Best movies:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
Edison, the Man (1940)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Mary Newton
Best movies:
The City Is Dark (1954)
All I Desire (1953)
Room for One More (1952)
Frankie Van
USA
Best movies:
Rocky (1976)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Francis in the Navy (1955)
Joseph J. Greene
USA
Best movies:
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
The Bishop's Wife (1947)
James Todd
USA
Best movies:
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
The Caine Mutiny (1954)
Francis in the Navy (1955)
Jil Jarmyn
USA
Best movies:
Spartacus (1960)
Francis in the Navy (1955)
War Drums (1957)
Frank Chase
USA
Best movies:
Winchester '73 (1950)
Bend of the River (1952)
Walk the Proud Land (1956)
Jane Howard
USA
Best movies:
The Great Sinner (1949)
Straight Time (1978)
One Desire (1955)
George E. Mather
USA
Best movies:
Francis in the Navy (1955)
Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966)
Galaxina (1980)
Molly
Best movies:
Francis in the Navy (1955)