I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy, aka I Love Lucy: The Movie is a 1953 feature film spin-off of the sitcom I Love Lucy. Except for one test screening in Bakersfield, California, the film was never theatrically released and was shelved. Shortly after the end of the first season of I Love Lucy, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball decided to cash in on their show's popularity by compiling several episodes of the first season of the series into a movie. A test screening in Baker... more

I Love Lucy, aka I Love Lucy: The Movie is a 1953 feature film spin-off of the sitcom I Love Lucy. Except for one test screening in Bakersfield, California, the film was never theatrically released and was shelved. Shortly after the end of the first season of I Love Lucy, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball decided to cash in on their show's popularity by compiling several episodes of the first season of the series into a movie. A test screening in Bakersfield, California went very well and Desilu (through distributor United Artists) prepared to release the film. But Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer demanded the movie be shelved because they felt it would diminish interest in the upcoming MGM film The Long, Long Trailer which Lucy and Desi co-starred in, and were contractually bound to promote. The I Love Lucy movie was ultimately forgotten. Unlike most movies of existing media properties, I Love Lucy: The Movie is framed within the meta-context of a "show within a show within a show". The film is framed... less