Francis all'accademia

Although I have always had a strong affection for the Francis pictures, probably because I grew up with them, I always found that the preponderance of military settings in the series was a little claustrophobic and cramped the potential for humour. (Consequently my favourites have always been Francis Goes to the Races and Francis Covers the Big Town). In Francis Goes to West Point I find this tendency to be at its most pronounced. Not only are we saddled with a military setting (and a confined one at that, so that there is not even the chance to open the story out a little), but as well as the usual mandatory romance between Peter Stirling and some Universal starlet, there is a another romantic subplot involving other cast members, and a hackneyed football sub-plot as well. For this reason I have always found this instalment the weakest in the series, an honour generally accorded to Francis in the Haunted House, but I'd take that over this any day. Pity that the opening scenes where Stirling saves a government plant from saboteurs didn't lead to some other kind of storyline.