The Long, Long Trailer (1954)

Nicky and Tacy are going to be married. Nicky wants to save up money for a house, but Tacy dreams of starting off with their own home on wheels--a trailer.

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Albert Hackett (screenplay), Clinton Twiss (novel)

Stars:

Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Marjorie Main

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Lucille Ball	...	Tacy Collini
Desi Arnaz	...	Nicholas Carlos Collini
Marjorie Main	...	Mrs. Hittaway
Keenan Wynn	...	Policeman
Gladys Hurlbut	...	Mrs. Bolton
Moroni Olsen	...	Mr. Tewitt
Bert Freed	...	Foreman
Madge Blake	...	Aunt Anastacia
Walter Baldwin	...	Uncle Edgar
Oliver Blake	...	Mr. Judlow
Perry Sheehan	...	Bridesmaid

Storyline

Nicky and Tacy are going to be married. Nicky wants to save up money for a house, but Tacy dreams of starting off with their own home on wheels--a trailer. After the two are hitched, they hitch up their trailer and begin their honeymoon. The humor comes from several disastrous adventures the couple has while traveling including Tacy's awkward attempt to cook dinner in a moving trailer, and a cliffhanging ride through the mountains that nearly destroys their marriage.

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Plot Keywords:

trailer | mountain | marriage | honeymoon | redheaded woman | 

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Taglines:

M-G-M's Miles Of Smiles! And In Color Too!

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

19 February 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Long, Long Trailer

Filming Locations:

Sonora, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Anscocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The New Moon trailers, produced by The Redman Trailer Co. (as per original sales brochures & in viewing the actual 1953 models), didn't come with a "sunken living room" as was highlighted in the film. This was done to add a reason for Desi Arnaz's character to take his pratfall when first entering the trailer. You can see that the floor of the kitchen is flat with the living room floor if you look closely when he opens the door for the first time at the trailer show, as this was simply a regular production coach in the shot. The interior shots had a "dropped" section in the living room area and you can see that the vent windows are much further from the ceiling than they would be as seen from the exterior. New Moon trailers also had a furnace in the corner between the front door and the kitchen cabinet. It is assumed this was removed from the interior mock up for aesthetic reasons.

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Goofs

The salesman quoted the total down payment as $1,932.22. This was incorrect (too low) as the down payment consisted of 1/3 of the $5,345 sales price ($1,763.85) plus $160 sales tax and $73 for registration and insurance. The correct total would have been $1,996.85, a difference of $64.63. Even using Tacy's stated down payment of $1,750, this would have resulted in a down payment of $1,983.00.

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Quotes

Tacy Collini: Were the trailer repairs expensive?
Nicholas Carlos Collini: No more than a room at the Ritz.

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Crazy Credits

The following acknowledgment appears in the end credits: "We are deeply grateful to the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, for permission to photograph scenes in Yosemite National Park".

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Alternate Versions

Preview version ran 103 minutes, and included different orchestration to the song "Breezin' Along With the Breeze," as well as an additional scene with Marjorie Main. The original music orchestration has since been included on a music compilation CD, and the advertising trailer includes a tiny portion of the deleted Marjorie Main scene.

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Connections

Featured in The Ed Sullivan Show: A Salute to Lucy and Desi (1954)

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Soundtracks

Breezin' Along With the Breeze
Written by Haven Gillespie, Seymour Simons and Richard A. Whiting

User Reviews

Lucy And Desi Make A Movie

In the midst of their wildly successful run through "I Love Lucy," Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz made a movie. In "The Long, Long Trailer" they play newlyweds Nicky and Tacy. Nicky's job apparently requires him to travel a lot, and Tacy comes up with the idea of buying a trailer as their new home so that she can accompany him wherever he goes - and what a trailer. It's a beast. It's huge. And Tacy doesn't seem to understand the challenge involved in pulling the thing around the country.

The basic story revolves around the fact that the purchase of this trailer almost destroys Nicky and Tacy's new marriage. Much of the humour in this revolves around the trials of driving with the trailer hooked to the car. The movie for the most part lacks the slapstick kind of humour that "I Love Lucy" was famous for - with perhaps the exception of a scene in which Tacy tries to cook in the trailer while Nicky is driving. Watching Nicky try to back the trailer into the driveway of Tacy's uncle and aunt's house and almost destroying the house is also quite funny. Otherwise, the humour is lower key than you'd expect, and the movie is sometimes even tense. The scenes in which Nicky has to pull the trailer up a long and windy mountain road is actually rather unsettling.

This certainly isn't as good as "I Love Lucy" but in its own way it's fun, and lets us see Lucy and Desi doing something a little different. (6/10)