The Lucy & Desi Collection (Too Many Girls / The Long Long Trailer / Forever, Darling)

Too Many Girls stars Arnaz as a South American athlete tapped by Princeton's football team to join its squad. The one condition is that he remain undercover until the season begins, forcing him to forgo women. Half-mad from deprivation, he shrugs off Princeton's heavy hand and agrees to join three football buddies hired to secretly chaperone a wealthy man's willful daughter (Ball) to a small, co-ed college in New Mexico. There the boys join the school's football team and immediately make it a success; of course, they also pitch woo to some comely young ladies. The Rodgers and Hart score is enjoyable, with a couple of minor classics ("You're Nearer" and "I Didn't Know What Time It Was"). The best moment, however, is Arnaz and Ball's very first scene together in what would become a historical partnership: Arnaz fainting at the sight of Ball, the first girl he's seen in months.

The Long, Long Trailer, in gorgeous Technicolor and directed by Vincente Minnelli, is a somewhat allegorical tale of a newly married couple who invest in a 40-foot trailer as their first home--and immediately regret it. Well, at least Arnaz's character does; he's the one who has anxiety attacks over operating electric brakes while steering up and down one-lane, mountain roads. Sight gags are plentiful: a scene in which Ball tries to make beef stew, a Caesar salad, and cake in a wobbling, moving trailer is classic Lucy. But there are some genuine dramatic sequences in this handsome movie, too, and the stars rise to the occasion. Forever Darling concerns the marriage of a sensible if visionary chemist, Lorenzo (Arnaz), and a high society gal, Susan (Ball). The latter can't decide if she should concentrate on entertaining friends and keeping up appearances or joining her husband on a two-year field test of his bug-killing spray. James Mason stars as a handsome guardian angel attempting to steer Susan toward happiness. But along the path toward resolution, lots of mayhem ensues. A lengthy camping scene full of disaster will delight I Love Lucy fans. --Tom Keogh