I Love Lucy: The Movie

The film was put together from three episodes of a television series. The episodes come from the opening season. They are called The Benefit, Breaking the Lease and The Ballet. The three were joined into a single story. Newly shot scenes were placed between them. Those scenes carry the transitions. The series filmed its episodes in order in front of an audience. The film puts that filming on screen as well. So the viewer watches the cast perform live. A show inside a show is built on screen. At the close the cast comes out again. Desi Arnaz thanks the audience. The film makes the shape of the series part of the game. The comedy runs on the patterns of the series. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz appear in the eighty minute film, an American production Edward Sedgwick finished in 1953.