Product Details

• Actors: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz
• Directors: Ralph Levy
• Format: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: October 2, 2001
• Run Time: 250 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005NFY3
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,166 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of I Love Lucy in 2001, this two-volume collection delivers exactly what it promises. Decades after their original broadcasts, these 10 episodes are as fresh and funny as ever, paying tribute to the timeless perfection of Lucy, Desi Arnaz, and their longtime costars Vivian Vance and William Frawley, whose appealing chemistry created comedic greatness and television history. Lucille Ball herself claimed that "Lucy Does a T.V. Commercial" (in which Lucy gets hilariously inebriated on "Vitameatavegamin") was her crowning achievement, and who’s going to argue? Or maybe you prefer Lucy and Harpo Marx recreating the legendary mirror routine from Duck Soup. Or her star-struck encounter with William Holden in Hollywood. That’s the blessing of this collection: Five of the episodes come from I Love Lucy’s second season (1952), but there’s not a clunker in the bunch. This is pure gold from start to finish, setting the standard for every sitcom that followed. Also included in this set is the bonus video American Masters documentary, Finding Lucy, which chronicles Ball's journey to becoming America's favorite redhead. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lucy's absolute funniest moments!, October 1, 2001

By 

"classic_tv_lover" (Seward, AK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best of I Love Lucy Collection (Volumes 1 and 2) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Wow! I preordered this video and watched it immediately when I got it. This set has the follwing episodes (voted on by Lucy fans all over the internet): Lucy Does A TV Commercial (Vitameatavegamin), Lucy's Italian Movie(grape vat), Lucy Does the Tango(crushed chick eggs), The Freezer, Harpo Marx, Job Switching(Chocolate factory), L.A. At Last!(William Holden and the Putty Nose), The Ballet("Slowly I Turn"), And Ethel's Hometown. All of these episodes are very, very funny and memorable.Any Lucy fan should own this collection.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, But edited!, January 1, 2002

By 

John Guinan (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best of I Love Lucy Collection (Volumes 1 and 2) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I taped a lot of the "I Love Lucy" episodes but i wanted them without the commercials so i bought this collection. The only bad thing about this, is that all the episodes are edited, even more so than they are on TV. I really don't know why because they had enough room to fit all the episodes on the 2 tapes(I will never understand those darn editors). Your better off just tapeing the episodes and stop recording when commercials come on. If they didn't edit the episodes as much as they did, i would have given this item 5 stars.
As for the bonus video "Finding Lucy", it was great. It mostly focused on "I Love Lucy" and than a little bit on Lucy's life after "I Love Lucy". It shows a lot of footage that i have never seen before, includeing Interviews with Lucille Ball and home videos! Its a great video to add to any Lucille Ball or "I Love Lucy" fan's collection!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great Lucy collection!, August 19, 2002

By 

duke14 "duke14" (NE Philly, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best of I Love Lucy Collection (Volumes 1 and 2) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

These nine episodes are the best Lucy episodes. Out of a ten scale, here are the separate reviews:

Vitameatavegamin- 8/10- Very funny about Lucy doing a tv commercial and getting drunk over it.

Italian wine vat- 6/10- Not one of my favorites, but funny. About Lucy starring in a movie scene about the making of wine by crushing grapes in a vat.

Crushing the eggs- 9/10- Hilarious. About Lucy and Ethel sneaking eggs out to the henhouse in Lucy's new home to help the chickens cooperate in laying eggs to sell. When whoops! she dances with Ricky.

The Freezer- 10/10- I love it. It's about Lucy and Ethel accidently buying 500 pound of meat for their new freezer in which they bought in a bargain. Ethel stalls for time while Lucy throws the meat in the furnace and gets locked in the furnace.

Harpo Marx- 10/10- In Hollywood, Lucy and Harpo meet face to face in a very funny mirror scene when Lucy wants some celebrities to help entertain her friend Caroline, who can't see a thing without her glasses.

The Chocolate Factory- 9/10- When in the chocolate factory, Lucy and Ethel mess up the place when trading places with Fred and Ricky in the jobs and housework. Fred and Ricky don't have much luck, either.

William Holden- 9/10- Another classic, Lucy meets with William Holden and really gets embarrassed in the restaurant. They she meets up with him again in her own hotel room.

The Burlesque Comedy- 7/10- Lucy, again, wants to get into the act. So she hires a burlesque comic to help her on her Slowly I Turned skit.

Ethel May Potter- 5/10- Not too fun, Ethel and the rest stop by Ethel's hometown, Albuquerque, on their way to Hollywood and it seems like all the people care about is their own Ethel May Potter.

Overall, a very funny video with popular classics. Don't pass this by!