Product Details

• Actors: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, Hal March
• Directors: Marc Daniels
• Writers: Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll Jr., Madelyn Davis
• Producers: Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Al Simon, Jess Oppenheimer
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: April 1, 2003
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00008972C
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #81,938 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #17 in

  Movies & TV > Comedy > Series & Sequels > I Love Lucy

• For more information about "I Love Lucy - Season One (Vol. 5)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The four classic episodes on this volume of I Love Lucy include--straight out of 1952--the inspired "Lucy Fakes Illness," in which Lucille Ball's havoc-inducing redhead, Lucy Ricardo, attempts yet another ploy to participate in husband Ricky's (Desi Arnaz) nightclub act, this time by pretending to suffer from a fabricated psychological problem. Trouble is, Lucy's ill (mental) health doesn't bear scrutiny after Ricky brings home an actor pal pretending to be a doctor. Also on board: the great "Lucy Writes a Play," concerning Mrs. Ricardo's effort to write for the stage, resulting in Cuban-born Ricky unwittingly playing a British tobacco picker. "Breaking the Lease" finds the Ricardos and best friends the Mertzes in their first and perhaps funniest feud, and "The Ballet" becomes a truly memorable showcase for Ball's slapstick talents when Lucy's dream of stardom becomes a burlesque nightmare. Great, hilarious stuff. --Tom Keogh

Product Description
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 06/10/2003 Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lucy deserves 10 stars but, these volume sets do not, March 31, 2003

By A Customer

'I Love Lucy' is one of my favorite shows and I want to someday collect every episode but, the way these episodes are being distributed is just terrible. There are so many other television shows being released as complete seasons. Why can't Lucy be that way too? I am dying to get Lucy on dvd but, I will not buy any episodes until they are released as complete seasons on as few dics as possible.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lucy keeps trying to break into show business.., May 19, 2003

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

The bad news is that to continue to parcel out the first season of "I Love Lucy" four episodes at a time on DVD. The good news is that this is the first volume in the collection that merits the top rating we commonly associate with the classic television situation comedy which was just starting to hit is stride at this point. During that first season of "I Love Lucy" the show had a 50.9 Nielsen rating, which meant that half of the television sets in the country were tuned to CBS on Monday nights at 9:00. Here are four examples why, most of which focus on Lucy's eternal effort to break into show business:

Episode 16, "Lucy Fakes Illness" (January 28, 1952) has Lucy pretending to suffer a nervous breakdown because Ricky has (once again) refused to hire her for his nightclub act. Since he knows Lucy is faking, Ricky gets a fake psychiatrist (Hal March) to check her out.

Episode 17, "Lucy Writes a Play" (February 4, 1952) has Lucy writing a play entitled "A Tree Grows in Havana" for an amateur playwriting competition. Ricky ends up playing the lead, which really does not help the play.

Episode 18, "Breaking the Lease" (February 11, 1952) is the best of the four episodes, with the Ricardos and the Mertzes having a fight which develops into an all-out war in at attempt to, well, break the lease. When you see Lucy smoking a cigarette, remember that the sponsor for "I Love Lucy" during that first season was the Phillip Morris Tobacco Company.

Episode 19, "The Ballet" (February 18, 1952) features the physical comedy of Lucille Ball. Once again Lucy is trying to get into the act at Ricky's club. Ricky has an opening for a burlesque comic and a ballet dancer, so Lucy tries out for both parts (giving a whole new meaning to the word "tutu"). Mary Wickes, always a delight in anything she did, has a nice part in this one.

All of these episodes were written by Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Caroll, Jr., who wrote all the episodes for the show's first four seasons. Marc Daniels was the director for all of the episodes that first season, except one (which is on the next DVD). Volume 5 is the second best in the Season One collection; the best is Volume 8 with both "The Freezer" and "Lucy Does a TV Commercial." So hang in there; the best is yet to come.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lucy in top form, May 8, 2003

By	Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

I LOVE LUCY continues on DVD with the 5th volume of episodes from the historic first season.

"Lucy Fakes Illness" - Lucy decides to feign a multiple-personality disorder in order to force Ricky to cast her in his new show. Lucille Ball does a fantastic impersonation of Katharine Hepburn/Bette Davis!

"Lucy Writes a Play" - Lucy and Ethel decide to enter a local dramatics society contest with a play that Lucy has penned, entitled "A Tree Grows in Havana". However, Lucy decides to scrap the idea and writes an English period-piece called "The Perils of Pamela". But on the night of the performance, Lucy and her cast can't decide which one they are ACTUALLY performing!

"Breaking the Lease" - Following a huge fight with the Mertzes, Lucy and Ricky decide to move, but can't until they pay their entire lease. Lucy decides to break the lease by being as noisy and unco-operative a neighbor as she can!

"The Ballet" - Ricky needs both a ballet dancer and a burlesque comic in his new show, so Lucy decides to train for both of them - with hilarious results!

Starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley. The DVD includes flubs, a bonus episode of the "My Favorite Husband" radio show, guest-cast information and restored elements. (Single-sided, single-layer disc).