Lucille Ball Film Collection

In the years B.T. (Before Television), Lucille Ball was a second-tier movie star and—believe it or not—something of a glamour girl. This five-disc collection showcases the famous redhead in a quintet of films made both before and after she became a small-screen institution. Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), ostensibly a starring vehicle for young Maureen O'Hara, gives Ball a showcase role as a wisecracking burlesque queen. The Big Street (1942), based on a Damon Runyon story, casts her as a haughty, acid-tongued chanteuse brought down to earth after becoming paralyzed in a fall (Henry Fonda costars as the timid admirer who endures torrents of verbal abuse before winning her heart). Du Barry Was a Lady (1943), marginally based on the Broadway smash featuring hit songs by Cole Porter, is an MGM Technicolor spectacular that once again finds Ball playing a sexy nightclub singer, this time with Red Skelton as her romantic foil. Critic's Choice (1963), in which Lucy appears as the playwright wife of a blistering theater critic (Bob Hope), is a fairly entertaining film but seems somewhat misplaced here. Ditto for Mame (1974), a bloated, poorly paced screen version of the beloved Broadway musical, starring Ball as an eccentric dame forced to raise her orphaned nephew. DVD extras include vintage shorts, cartoons, and a “making-of” featurette on Mame. Recommended. (E. Hulse)