''I Love Lucy'' (also known as ''I Love Lucy: The Movie'') is a 1953 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

film that is a spin-off of the

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...

''. Except for one

test screening A test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or ...

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

, the film was never theatrically released and was shelved.

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...

and

Desi Arnaz Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, and film and television producer. He played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom ''I Lov ...

co-star. Some scenes were directed by

Edward Sedgwick Edward Sedgwick (November 7, 1889 – March 7, 1953) was an American film director, writer, actor and producer. Early life He was born in Galveston, Texas, the son of Edward Sedgwick, Sr. and Josephine Walker, both stage actors. At the age ...

, the final film work of his long Hollywood career. Sedgwick died in March 1953.

Plot

The film plays out with three first-season episodes edited together into a single story: "The Benefit", "Breaking the Lease", and "The Ballet", with new footage included between episodes to help transition the episodes into one coherent storyline. As the series routinely took the format of filming scenes in chronological order, this adds to the "show within a show within a show" format of the film, as viewers watch the cast perform the episodes live. The film itself ends with a "curtain call", as the cast comes out and Arnaz thanks the audience for their support.

Cast

Lucy Ricardo Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Luci ...

/ Herself *

Ricky Ricardo Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, also known simply as Lucy and Ricky or the Ricardos, are fictional characters from the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', portrayed respectively by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The Ricardos also appear in '' The ...

/ Himself *

Vivian Vance Vivian Vance (born Vivian Roberta Jones; July 26, 1909 – August 17, 1979) was an American actress and singer best known for playing Ethel Mertz on the sitcom ''I Love Lucy'' (1951–1957), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outst ...

Ethel Mertz Ethel Mae Mertz (née Potter) (alternately Ethel Louise, Ethel May, and Ethel Roberta), played by Vivian Vance, is one of the four main fictional characters in the highly popular 1950s American television sitcom '' I Love Lucy''. Ethel is the middl ...

/ Herself *

William Frawley William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best remembered for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', "Bub" O'Casey in the television comedy series ...

Fred Mertz Frederick Hobart Mertz, played by William Frawley, is a fictional character in the 1950s American sitcom '' I Love Lucy''. Character Fred was born and raised on a farm in the Midwest; in one episode, Ethel says that Fred's mother comes to visit o ...

/ Himself

Development

Shortly after the end of the first season of ''I Love Lucy'',

and

decided to cash in on their show's popularity by compiling several episodes of the first season of the series into a movie. A

, went very well and

Desilu Desilu Productions () was an American television production company founded and co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. The company is best known for shows such as ''I Love Lucy'', ''The Lucy Show'', ''Mannix'', ''The Untouchabl ...

(through distributor

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

) prepared to release the film. But

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

demanded the film be shelved because they felt it would diminish interest in the upcoming MGM film, ''

The Long, Long Trailer ''The Long, Long Trailer'' is a 1954 American Anscocolor road comedy film based on a novel of the same name written by Clinton Twiss in 1951 about a couple who buy a new travel trailer home and spend a year traveling across the United States.''V ...

'', in which Lucy and Desi co-starred and were contractually bound to promote. The ''I Love Lucy'' movie was ultimately forgotten.

Format and framing sequence

Unlike most movie adaptations, ''I Love Lucy: The Movie'' is presented as a "show within a show within a show". The film is framed around a plot involving a young married couple (played by

Ann Doran Ann Lee Doran (July 28, 1911 – September 19, 2000) was an American character actress, possibly best known as the mother of Jim Stark ( James Dean) in ''Rebel Without a Cause'' (1955). She was an early member of the Screen Actors Guild and ser ...

and Benny Baker) attending the filming of an episode of ''I Love Lucy''. After an opening sequence of the couple arriving at the studio, there is a brief introduction by the show's announcer, Roy Rowan, as he introduces

, who speaks to the studio audience and introduces the cast (something Arnaz would do throughout the run of the series).

Lost and found

After plans for a theatrical release were scuttled by MGM, the film was largely forgotten and the twelve minutes of new footage shot for the film were considered to be lost forever. However, in 2001, the film was found and clips of it were featured in I Love Lucy's 50th Anniversary Special. A screening was held in August 2001 at the fifth Loving Lucy

fan convention Fan convention (also known as con or fan meeting), a term that predates 1942, is an event in which fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some ...

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

Home media

The film was released on DVD on October 23, 2007 as one of the features on a bonus disc in ''The "I Love Lucy" Complete Series'' boxset. The disc received a separate release on April 27, 2010. In 2015, the movie was released in 1080p as part of I Love Lucy: Ultimate Season 2.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:I Love Lucy (Film) 1953 comedy films 1953 films American comedy films 1950s English-language films Films based on television series Films directed by Edward Sedgwick Films edited from television programs Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Television films based on television series I Love Lucy 1950s American films Rediscovered American films 1950s rediscovered films