This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The 3rd film in the Francis film series. I would judge this one to be less interesting than the next 2 installments. Our story begins ,not at West Point, but an atomic energy plant where Don is working and Francis hangs out. Francis tells Don about a sabotage to occur that night. The security forces are ready and nab the would be perpetrators. In reward, Don gets a recommendation to become a cadet at West Point.Early on, Don is last in his class in academics. Francis finds out and begins tutoring Don both in academics and field drills. Soon, he is near the top of his class.On the sidelines, Francis gives strategy advice to the football coach, who wonders where the voice comes from. Later, he finds out it comes from Francis, who continues to give him play advice.Don is accused of being married, with his wife pregnant(against regulations). If true, he will have to drop out. Don agrees he has a wife expecting a baby. He thinks he is protecting the star quarterback, but he has the truth garbled. Frances figures out what is going on and pleads with the commander to let Don stay. Francis also gives a locker room pep talk.Incidentally, while Don is doing punishment drills, the leader queries "What do you think you're doing? Walking your baby back home?" Interestingly, Don costarred in a musical comedy released the next year called "Walking My Baby Back Home"!

This is the third in the Francis, the Talking Mule series. It begins with Peter and Francis at a plant where they save the building from being blown up. So Stirling now ends up at West Point. Some later familiar faces turn up here: David Janssen (credited as Dave, later of "The Fugitive") and James Best (yes, the later Roscoe P. Coltrane on "The Dukes of Hazzard"!) as a couple of guards at the place giving Peter a hard time, and Leonard Nimoy (partially recognizable as a younger version of Mr. Spock from the original "Star Trek" despite not wearing his hair with bangs and no pointy ears!) as one of the cadet football players. As usual, the funniest scenes involve Chill Wills' voice as the mule and his interactions with not only Donald O'Connor but some of the supporting players who discover Francis talking to them. So on that note, Francis Goes to West Point is worth a look.

The third in the FRANCIS THE TALKING MULE series is yet another ordinary affair, with nothing much to recommend in it. The setting is military school, with Francis missing in action far too much of the time, as well as most of the laughs, apparently. The only thing interesting for me was spotting a very young Leonard Nimoy as a cadet late into the film. It's a shame that more entertainment was not accomplished with this formula, as Donald O'Connor and his jabbering jackass had the potential for being an entertaining pair together. ** out of ****

I have to admit, this film has nothing much to recommend it except for the fact that it was among the very first movies I ever saw. I believe it was in the Fox Theater in New Orleans, off Elysee Blvd. way, way back there. I know I was young enough to be mightily impressed at how on earth they got a mule to talk! I'm still not sure.Anyway, Donald O'Connor is one of the more underrated musical comedy guys from back then, and the show as a whole is pleasantly sawdust-brained. It's part of my education in films, and I love it just for that.