Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Released in 1954 - The Long, Long Trailer (TLLT, for short) was very much like watching a very, very long, long episode (90 minutes) of the highly-popular "I Love Lucy" TV Show of the early 1950's.Now, don't get me wrong here - I can certainly enjoy watching an extended episode of "I Love Lucy"', now, and again. But I found that with TLLT there seemed to be something slightly out of kilter with its story - Something oddly unbalanced.It seemed to me that TLLT was missing a vitally important element in its "comedy relief" department.What I'm talking about here is, of course, the much needed input of actors William Frawley and Vivian Vance, as Fred and Ethel Mertz, into TLLT's comic story. Believe me, these 2 characters were most desperately needed several times throughout the course of TLLT as a buffer to counter the often amusing, but sometimes annoying, domestic squabbles of Nicky and Tracy (aka Ricky and Lucy Ricardo).But, with that all said - TLLT was still fairly entertaining as far as comedies go. But it certainly wasn't great.

It probably isn't too much of a stretch to imagine that a new bride in the early 1950s would consider living in a mobile home so that she could be with her husband who otherwise would be away from home many days because of his job. Indeed, there were many families in the early 20th century who lived in trailers to follow work in oil drilling, dam building, and other construction. In "The Long, Long Trailer," Desi Arnaz plays a civil engineer, Nicky Collini, and Lucille Ball plays his fiancé then wife, Tacy. Before their marriage, the couple discusses setting up their home. Nicky says, "We'll have a home, darling." Tacy, "What kind of a home, when your work takes you to all those places – Colorado, Montana, Idaho?" Nicky, "All right. All right. I won't go to Colorado. I'll get another job." Tacy, "Oh, no. I didn't mean that. This is a wonderful chance for you. Anyway, it'll always be something like that. If it isn't a tunnel in Colorado, it'll be a bridge in Alaska or a dam across the Pacific." So, Tacy convinces Nicky that they should set up their house on wheels when they get married. From there on, Tacy an Nicky give us one very funny and sometimes hair-raising escapade after another. This movie was based on a 1951 novel of the same name by Clinton Twiss. In it, his couple buy a new trailer home and spend a year driving across the United States. I know half a dozen couples who sold their homes after retiring around the turn of the 21st century. They bought RV-mobile homes and now travel across the U.S. They might stay a couple of weeks in one place, and a few months in another. Every couple of years they try to rendezvous somewhere around the country. Anyone who has lived in a mobile home – who has moved from place to place, knows the travails of driving and handling a trailer. One thing that can be said about it is that one doesn't wind up saving lots of things and collecting stacks of mementos. When things are no longer of use, one gets rid of them. The simple lack of space dictates thriftiness, neatness, and practicality. Well, that is, until Tacy Collini decided to take up trailer travel and living. The humor in the early part of the film is in watching Nicky – the expressions on his face – as Tacy pulls him into one step after another toward buying a new trailer home. Then they need a new car that is capable of pulling the longest trailer on the market. And, then her friends help move her trousseau into their new home. I don't know how long a time span the film covered, but after their wedding Tacy and Nicky head from California to Denver. At one point we see them at the beach along the coast, then we see them driving through forests and in the mountains. I think the latter was supposed to be the Rockies in Colorado, but the film was all made in California. The scenic shots in the Sierra Nevadas were quite beautiful – lending to Tacy's claim about an advantage being their seeing the beauty of the country. One of the funniest scenes was Tacy's trying to prepare dinner in the trailer while Nicky is driving. Again, anyone with background knows it's not been legal for people to ride in a mobile home. Tacy learned the hard way why her idea wouldn't work – all to the viewer's delight, of course. Another scene I found very funny wasn't at all humorous to the bystanders. The couple stopped to visit and stay a few days with Tacy's aunt and uncle – somewhere in California. In backing the trailer into their driveway, Nicky runs over the aunt's favorite rose bush, then rips out and destroys a beautiful arboretum arch over the driveway. The relatives look on in shock as the trailer tears up their property. The next day Tacy and Nicky leave – apparently already having overstayed their welcome. Of course, with Tacy's wedding trousseau, the trailer is quite packed. But now they add a couple cases of home-canned goodies from an aunt. After a few stops, the trailer takes on more goods in the large rocks that Tacy has decided to collect – one from each of their stops. These will make a nice ring around their front entrance when they set up home near Denver. The Mayhem continues throughout this film. The couple weathers storms, steep mountain roads and more travel mishaps. The question is, will their marriage survive all this? You'll just have to watch "The Long, Long Trailer" to find out.

"The Long, Long Trailer" is an absolutely perfect movie: Lucy & Desi are so multi-talented, utterly timeless and endlessly enjoyable in every scene! The writing is clever and funny, the direction is flawless, the scenery and music are fantastic. The 1950s provided some of the absolute best in entertainment - not to mention, the most awesomely-designed cars, the coolest clothes, and the neatest home furnishings - all of which we see in this wonderful film. (It's unheard of today but classic duos like Lucy & Desi, Jackie Gleason & Art Carney, Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, Tony Randall & Jack Klugman, Bud Abbott & Lou Costello, Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, Gilligan/Bob Denver & Skipper/Alan Hale, Jr., Andy Griffith & Don Knotts, were so talented that they could carry entire TV shows or films on their own!) We never tire of watching this movie - it's a perfect time capsule of the Fun & Fabulous '50s!

I guess I was a great deal younger then, when I first saw this movie. I remembered the rocks taken along despite Desi's instruction and the tension he had piloting all that tonnage. I was really looking forward to a wonderful, nostalgic romp from the past. Instead, I received a reality check. The sight gags didn't tickle my funny bone, I found Lucy's failure to take any responsibility for endangering their lives with her boulder collection somewhat an antidote to humor, and I looked for, and didn't see, any on-screen chemistry between these two. There was none of the sparkle of romance, and mere lip service to their repeatedly foiled honeymoon. It was far too easy to forget they were newlyweds. I found myself looking to identify each of the old cars (did you see that 46 Buick? the 50 Studebaker?) instead of letting myself be drawn into the movie. And I began worrying about that poor 53 Mercury more than was conducive to enjoying the movie.