I Love Lucy - The Complete Fifth Season
I Love Lucy: The Complete Fifth Seasonfinds Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) making an international mess out of husband Ricky's globe-trotting tour as an entertainer. Beginning with "Lucy Visits Grauman's" and "Lucy and John Wayne," the impulsive redhead risks Ricky's sanity in Hollywood by stealing a cement slab, from the famous entrance to Grauman's Chinese Theater, that contains the imprint of John Wayne's footprints and signature. In the tradition of superstars playing themselves onI Love Lucy, an exasperated (and very funny) Wayne gets into the act over and over and over again, making new imprints on multiple slabs because Lucy keeps messing up the results. After more shenanigans in Los Angeles (Lucy attends a ritzy party with a dummy substituting for her unavailable husband) and a disastrous train ride home, it's time to jeopardize Ricky's success during an interview show that ends disastrously.Lucy's fifth season travel theme continues when Ricky and his band are booked on a European tour that does not include his wife or the Mertzes. Of course, that doesn't stop the determined Lucy (or Ethel), who schemes her way into Ricky's plans, only to have a number of snafus arise as she tries to leave the country. In theI Love Lucytradition, entire episodes are written around such simple matters as trying to get a passport, or helping with Fred's fear of getting seasick while traveling. All this show's stars really need is a ridiculous, open-ended situation to exploit, and the comedy flows from there. "Bon Voyage" is a particularly funny episode in which Lucy gets left behind by the European-bound ship carrying Ricky and the others, and she has to find a way to get back aboard. The hilarious "Lucy and the Queen" finds her angling in London for a way to meet the Royal Family after Ricky is invited to say hello at the Palladium. From there, Lucy creates chaos in Scotland (this episode includes a memorable dream sequence in which Ricky appears as Scotty MacTavish MacDougal MacCardo), Paris (where she and Ethel plot to meet guest star and good sport Charles Boyer at an outdoor café), Rome (the outstanding "Lucy's Italian Movie" finds her dispatched to a vineyard, where she has to crush grapes--brilliantly--with her feet). Lots of special features, including a behind-the-scenes peek and bloopers.--Tom Keogh