mmallon4 Frank Beardsley's (Henry Fonda) opening narration tells of how his children feel he neglected his wife and their mother; an interesting parallel to real life in which Fonda told his wife Frances Ford Seymour in 1949 he wanted a divorcée so he could remarry after an unhappy 13 year marriage; a confession which drove her to suicide. Not to mention Fonda was a man who was "emotionally distant" to his children starring in a movie like Yours, Mine and Ours, but being the great actor he is, never is he out of place.Yours, Mine and Ours doesn't have a massive amount of substance but has just enough to keep it afloat. It's not the most advanced comic material for the likes of Lucille Ball but she makes the most of it. Apparently Fonda became deeply in love with Ball during film and the two became very close; always a benefit to the on screen chemistry. Likewise sex references still manage to slip into a family film ("He'll bring me home in plenty of time for dessert"). The cinematography is also surprisingly advanced for a movie of this kind such as seen in the very opening shot of the film in which the camera pans back from a close up of Fonda to a battle ship in its entirety. Likewise there are plenty of effective shots of San Francisco.The old fashioned family ideals in Yours, Mine and Ours were not in tune with a changing America of the time. The film was originally to be made in the early 60's but was delayed due to various setbacks but the fashions present here are clearly of the late 60's. With the film's inclusion of battleships and planes the movie clearly has US Navy endorsement and I can see this pro-military aspect of the film not going down well during the days of the Vietnam War. Likewise at the end of the film the eldest son Michael Beardsley joining the armed forces; so I guess that's off to Nam! This is the aspect of Yours, Mine and Ours which I find the most interesting; it's a film which the product of before it's time, clinging onto bygone values. For example the movie has Van Johnson in a supporting role whom I've always pictured as being an archetypal 50's actor. But more importantly Frank Beardsley can't be a stay at home father, he's clearly a man's man as evident from his high ranking position in the navy.

movie-viking Saw this as a kid in the 60's...Viewed it now at almost Lucille Ball's age, it's STILL a great film. Host your own 60's revival by showing them this film---which influenced the Brady Bunch TV show! By this time,Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda had either teen or 20's aged children. Their real life parenting experience---shows!The kids' smart aleck 60's characters are a bit dated---but Fonda and Ball could have acted their parts - yesterday...The best scene of all is near the movie's end--in the now merged household.Fonda must advise a teen daughter on true love -- versus sex only...as he walks his pregnant wife to the car..saying..."It isn't going to bed with a man that proves that you love him it's getting up in the morning and facing the drab, miserable, wonderful everyday world that counts. I suppose having 19 kids is carrying it a bit too far, but if we had it to do all over again --who would we skip, you?"

Ed Uyeshima I remember when this old-fashioned family comedy came out in 1968 because I saw it from the back of my parents' Rambler station wagon at a suburban drive-in. Ironically, it was released about a month before Robert Kennedy was assassinated, a pertinent fact since he was the Kennedy brother with by far the most children - eleven. The wholesome image of Kennedy as a young family man with a large brood is what much of the country responded to at the time, and this movie echoes those sentiments on a broader, sitcom level. It helps when you have two veterans like Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda play the leading roles as the widowed parents of sizable broods that combine eighteen children. One is a screen icon, the other America's most beloved TV comedienne. In hindsight, it seems predictably cautious for a movie set around the Alameda Naval Base to ignore the Vietnam War entirely, even though Fonda plays a naval officer and his oldest son a draftee.The plot is based on a true story as recounted in a 1964 memoir by Ball's character Helen North Beardsley. She was a part-time nurse on the base and a recently widowed mother of eight. In typical meet-cute fashion at the grocery store, Helen bumps into naval officer Frank Beardsley, the recently widowed father of ten children. They meet again at the clinic when his daughter needs female attention for her budding young womanhood. Their first date leads to the mutual revelation of the size of their respective families. Frank's best friend and fellow officer Darrel Harrison also knows Helen well and is determined to get them together through a pair of mismatched blind dates. Once Frank and Helen realize they are made for each other, the couple spends the rest of the movie trying to meld their warring families together into one happy unit. It's hardly a spoiler to say that they eventually succeed but not without a lot of trial and tribulation - including another baby on the way.Truth be told, Ball and Fonda are too old by a decade or so for their roles. However, it doesn't really matter since they are immensely likable here. Even though she is given plenty of Lucy schtick to do between false eyelashes and toxic screwdrivers, Ball lends surprising dimension to Helen when it matters. Van Johnson is in typical wise-guy mode as Darrel, while Tom Bosley shows up as the befuddled family doctor. Among the children, you can recognize Tim Matheson as the eldest and most resentful of the pack and Morgan Brittany as a middle daughter, though the scene stealer is Eric Shea, who would have a memorable turn as the crafty kid in "The Poseidon Adventure" four years later. Reflecting on this film forty years later, I am struck by the pro-life message it seems to encourage, although religious themes are smartly avoided. The whole venture was directed and co-written by journeyman Melville Shavelson. The 2006 DVD only offers the original theatrical trailer as the one extra.

AndersonWhitbeck Lucille Ball reined above Hollywood as Queen of Comedy and also the CEO of Desilu with not one but three studio lots in Hollywood,Desilu Gower, Desilu Cahuenga and DesiluCulver ( The old Selznick Studio where Gone With The Wind was filmed). Taking chances was Lucy's forte: starring in a TV show "I Love Lucy" and insisting on the casting of her husband Desi Arnaz and her also equally famous decisions authorize the productions of "Star Trek" and "Mission Impossible" against the recommendations of the Desilu Board of Directors. Ball's last great accomplishment as a CEO was the insistence of filming "Yours Mine and Ours" as a theatrical movie hoping to make Desilu a force in film production as well. Make no doubt about it if one re reads the story that Rex Reed wrote in the New York Times on Lucy while she was filming this movie, Ms. Ball ran the show and event titled his great article on Lucy " I Run My Studio Like I Run My Home".Lucille Ball-looking youthful and beautiful- is superb in the title role of Helen Beardsley and her nuanced performance should have garnered Lucille Ball a long sought after Oscar nomination. Ms. Ball is at times both funny and in a departure from her TV "Lucy" quite soft and underplays many scenes. Henry Fonda is a perfect "Mr. Beardsley". Van Johnson a pal from Lucy's old MGM days is cast and gets a nice role supporting both Stars. Many were surprised by the success of this film. I have no idea why. It is a fine and lasting comedy classic directed by the sure hand of the fine Melville Shavelson.