Directed by:
Arthur LubinScreenplay:
Devery FreemanCinematography:
Irving GlassbergCast:
Donald O'Connor, Julie Adams, Chill Wills, Mamie Van Doren, Lynn Bari, Zasu Pitts, Joan Shawlee, Allison Hayes, Mara Corday, Bert Stevens, William Phipps (more)Plots(1)
Francis Joins the WACS was the fifth in Universal's comedy series about a talking Army mule and his hapless human companion. Thanks to a bureaucratic snafu, ex-GI Peter Sterling (Donald O'Connor) is called into acitive duty and assigned to a WAC unit, headed by Major Simpson (Lynn Bari). It is Sterling's task to train the women to be camouflage experts, but the ladies resent his presence, assuming that Peter has been sent to discredit their unit. But with the help of Francis, the WACs manage to win the annual War Games, and to flummox misogynistic General Kaye (Chill Wills, who also provides Francis' voice). Julie Adams, then billed as Julia, provides the love interest. ZaSu Pitts also appears in Francois Joins the WACs, recreating the role she'd played in the first Francis installment back in 1949, while other uniformed females include Mamie Van Doren and Allison (Attack of the 50-Foot Woman) Hayes. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Donald O'Connor
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Ragtime (1981)
Beau Geste (1939)
Julie Adams
USA
Best movies:
One Desire (1955)
Tickle Me (1965)
Bend of the River (1952)
Chill Wills
USA
Best movies:
The Yearling (1946)
Giant (1956)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
Mamie Van Doren
USA
Best movies:
Teacher's Pet (1958)
Star in the Dust (1956)
Jet Pilot (1957)
Lynn Bari
USA
Best movies:
Love Is News (1937)
Sun Valley Serenade (1941)
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Zasu Pitts
USA
Best movies:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Greed (1924)
Life with Father (1947)
Joan Shawlee
USA
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Name of the Game (1968) (series)
The Apartment (1960)
Allison Hayes
USA
Best movies:
Tickle Me (1965)
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
The Undead (1957)
Mara Corday
USA
Best movies:
The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955)
Drums Across the River (1954)
Raw Edge (1956)
Bert Stevens
USA
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
William Phipps
USA
Best movies:
Cinderella (1950)
Lust for Life (1956)
Julius Caesar (1953)
Robert Bray
USA
Best movies:
Ride Clear of Diablo (1954)
The Lusty Men (1952)
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
Olan Soule
USA
Best movies:
North by Northwest (1959)
The Towering Inferno (1974)
Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Rusty Wescoatt
USA
Best movies:
Touch of Evil (1958)
Morituri (1965)
Red Sundown (1956)
Paul Kruger
USA
Best movies:
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Invisible Man (1933)
John Close
USA
Best movies:
The Big Heat (1953)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
Tyler McVey
USA
Best movies:
Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
Hello, Dolly! (1969)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Karen Kadler
Canada
Best movies:
It Conquered the World (1956)
John Phillips
USA
Best movies:
The Longest Day (1962)
Key Largo (1948)
Julie (1956)
Mitchell Kowall
USA
Best movies:
Deep in My Heart (1954)
The Jayhawkers (1959)
Red Sundown (1956)