FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES (1951)

Taking up immediately where the original film ends, FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES finds the kind-hearted dummy Peter Stirling (Donald O’Connor) and his shit-talking buddy Francis hanging out at a racetrack.  Peter has the hots for the granddaughter (Piper Laurie) of a local thoroughbred owner but he fails so fantastically at flirting with her that he ends up nearly being fitted for “cement slippers” by a local crime boss!  Francis has to save the day.

Obviously, FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES isn’t going to be the height of Cinema, but for entertainment, I was completely satisfied.  And I was impressed by the performances of the entire cast.  Literally everybody played the entire thing straight.  The overall tone of the film felt serious and it worked because it made the shit-talking by Francis just that much more humorous.

The only negative thing I have to say about FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES is early on in the film Francis wanted to split up with Peter.  That made me sad and really depressed, but eventually Francis changed his mind and they were buddies again.  That made me happy, but I was still sad.

I know this is dumb, but the shot at 1:30 of Francis and Peter walking down the road side-by-side reminded me of the original opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show made 9 years later.

Part 1 - Francis (1950)
Part 3 - Francis Goes to West Point (1952)
Part 4 - Francis Covers the Big Town (1953)
Part 5 - Francis Joins the WACS (1954)
Part 6 - Francis in the Navy (1955)
Part 7 - Francis in the Haunted House (1956)

YES SIR, THAT'S MY BABY (1949)

If there's anybody out there looking for a good example of "movie logic", then look no further than YES SIR THAT'S MY BABY.

College football star Donald O'Connor is forbidden by his wife (Gloria DeHaven) to play football.  And what's the reasoning behind her forbidding?  Well, one of her female professors had a failed romance with the football coach back years ago and she's still bitter about it.  Even worse is other young mothers have taken up the cause and forbidden their football studs from playing.  Now the entire football program is at stake!!!  Oh, no!  Will this be the end of football at Granger College?  Will there be some singing?  Maybe a few small dance numbers and one mildly impressive tap dance number at a laundromat?  Will Jack Overman make a cameo?  Will there be a lot of baby crying?  Will there be a big game at the end?  Will the romance between the professor and the coach be rekindled?  Will the baby for whatever reason be the celebrated hero of the game in spite of the fact that all he did was sit on the sidelines and scream his fucking brains out?  Will there be male cheerleaders?  Will somebody put on a hat full of water?  You'll just have to watch for yourself to find out!  Or not, it really wasn't that entertaining.

There were a few sparks of life in the musical numbers and the scenes between Donald and Gloria, but the rest of the film was pretty silly and the big game at the end was just ridiculous and made no sense at all...Donald actually changed a diaper between plays!  Alright for a one-time watch (if you're into films from the 1940's), but my biggest entertainment came from the background shots, the clothing/hairstyles and the dated views on male-female relationships.