In the previous film, "Francis Goes to West Point", Pete (Donald O'Connor) attends the military academy and it ends with him and Francis saying goodbye...and Pete finishing up his second of four years at West Point. Oddly, when "Francis Covers the Big Town", there's no mention of West Point, Francis and Pete are back together, and Pete is a copyboy at a newspaper. Now considering West Point graduates must serve in the Army a minimum of eight years after graduation AND have an easy time getting jobs after, Pete working such a lowly job makes no sense....nor does it make any sense that his time at the Academy is never mentioned. After all, if he was dismissed or quit, don't you think it would have been mentioned? All in all, this installment is poor from the outset because of major continuity problems. Can it overcome them and still be entertaining?!
As a lowly copyboy, Pete aspires to become a reporter. With the help of Francis his mule (who talks regularly to the police horses), he manages to get some important scoops and is promoted to reporter. But while he does well on the job, his love life is a mess, as he's interested in an unworthy woman while a nice young lady is interested...but he ignores her. Clearly, Pete is a putz and even dumber than usual...and a bit of a jerk in the way he treats her. Francis isn't pleased and promises to stop helping Pete with his news stories.
Soon the story becomes a murder mystery and Pete is accused to killing a well respected businessman. But the victim was the head of a protection mob and it's up to Francis to come to court to testify on Pete's behalf.
This story suffers in two ways. First, and I mentioned it above, is the lack of continuity with the previous episode. It's as if "Francis Goes to West Point" never happened. Second, the film isn't as funny as the previous films in the series. Overall, not a bad film but a disappointing one.
