'I Love Lucy: The Movie' DVD comes full of extras

A theatrical "I Love Lucy" film that remained on the shelf for some 50 years leads off these TV-related DVDs.

"I Love Lucy: The Movie" (CBS/Paramount, 1953, b/w, $19.99). This is actually the bonus disc from the "I Love Lucy: The Complete Series" set. The "movie" of the title was cobbled together from three first-season episodes, with newly filmed connecting sequences, and it was intended for theatrical release. But because Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz's feature film "The Long Long Trailer" was about to be released, "The I Love Lucy" movie was shelved. And it's great fun for "Lucy" fans who don't have the series box set.

Just as intriguing are the bonus features — a full-length color episode (by all accounts the only one), a two-minute clip from "The Ed Wynn Show," in which Lucy and Desi appeared together on TV for the first time (and Desi can't stop laughing), along with a touching excerpt from the Emmys where Vivian Vance won for best supporting actress and "I Love Lucy" won for best sitcom — with Ball urging the Emmys to establish a writers category, which it did the next year.

Extras: full frame, "I Love Lucy" 1956 color episode, Lucy & Desi's first joint appearance (on the "Ed Wynn Show," 1949), Emmy Awards excerpt (1954), on-set commercial (1951), text program notes

"Murphy's Law: Series 2" (Acorn, 2004, two discs, $39.99). More hard-hitting British crime drama with undercover cop Tommy Murphy (James Nesbitt) trying to catch a serial killer, looking into the death of a fellow police officer and even joining Interpol. But with Murphy, there's also time for personal revenge. (Be advised that there is graphic violence, nudity and profane language.)

Extras: widescreen, six episodes, text biography of Nesbitt

"Six Centuries of Verse" (Acorn, 1984, three discs, $69.99). This is sort of British Poetry 101, with John Gielgud as host. Many great works are explored, ranging from Chaucer to Shakespeare to Milton to Wordsworth, along with more contemporary pieces. Gielgud reads some, and other celebrity performers include Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft, Lee Remick, Stacy Keach, Ian Richardson and Julian Glover.

Extras: full frame, 16 episodes, text information about the poets and the actors; 20-page booklet