Though presumably based on real-life marriage in the 1960s, Melvin Shavelson’s Yours, Mine, and Ours is an unabashedly old-fashioned and fluffy, meant for all members of the family.
Lucille Ball, in hiatus from her TV show, plays Helen North, a widow with 8 children who falls in love with Naval officer Frank Beardsley (Henry Fonda), a widower with ten children of his own.
The comedic situations derive from the sheer numbers and diverse age groups of the offsprings.
An almost unnecessary narration is used in the first half of the film to help set the stage for the nuptials.
Van Johnson is the mutual friend who brings the couple together.
Tom Bosley plays the harried doctor who makes a house call and shockingly finds 20 patients under one roof.
But, wait, who is counting? The newlyweds are soon off to the hospital when Helen becomes pregnant with the couple’s own first child.
Running time: 114 minutes.
Directed by Melville Shavelson
Released: April 24, 1968
DVD: March 6, 2001
MGM Home Entertainment
