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.

Henry Fonda's entertaining vehicle with young people and agreeable actors . A widower Navy Admiral (Henry Fonda) and a lovely widow (Lucille Ball who produced the film with his company : Desilu Productions) fall in love and marry, much to the dismay of his 10 and her 8 children . He runs a loving but tight ship , with charts and salutes . The kids long for a permanent home . The film deals about a happy family , the father is a notorious Admiral and the mother is a nurse . They are instantly attracted to each other and quickly decide to marry . There are various family crisis but it is all very heartwarming . They are quite cognizant of the fact that he already has ten children from his first marriage, and she has eight from her first marriage . Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball ought to keep the familiar order involving in their own home while at the same time occupy the works .Then the problems start as two sets of kids, the free spirits and the disciplined preppies, must live together. The warring factions agree to work together to carry out the marriage .The picture is pretty entertaining and amusing , the film contains bemusing scenes , zany shenanigans , continuous laughters and various chuckles with lots of fun . Humanity and humor are high in the priorities of the director Shavelson who shows a considerable talent recapturing funny situations . The picture belongs to numerous family sub-genre whose maxim representation is ¨Cheaper by dozen ¨ with Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb and a modern version starred by Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt ; and of course ¨Yours , mine and ours¨ , being recently remade (2005) by Raja Gosnell with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo . Formidable main cast , very well featured by Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball . Besides , there appears as sons ,some young actors who will have an acceptable career as TV stars as Morgan Brittany , Tim Matheson and Tracy Nelson .The motion picture was well directed by Melville Shavelson . His movies have a special penchant for recapturing a particular atmosphere , many of this movies are about real people but they remain muted in impact . A notorious screenwriter , Bob Hope and Danny Kaye features Shavelson's movies when he became filmmaker and his films with them are the most successful such as ¨The seven tittle Foys¨ , Beau James¨, ¨On the Double¨ and ¨Five pennies¨ . Shavelson's later pictures were made for TV and mostly biographies as ¨The great Houdini¨ , ¨Ike¨, ¨Ike : the war years¨, and ¨The legend of Valentino¨ which remains the best work on the subject to date . Two of the best films resulted to be ¨¨Cast a giant shadow¨ , an epic movie with all-star-cast dealing with the birth of Israel and this ¨Yours , mine and ours¨.

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?"

While TONS of folks have noted the appearance of Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson in this film, as well as Tim Matheson, Morgan Brittany, et al, I have not found anyone who remembers that Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson much later co-starred in "The Father Dowling Mysteries." Imagine, they costarred 20 years previously when Tracy was under 3! I have never seen Robert Osborne note this in his intro to the film on TCM. (Sorry if this HAS been noted but I looked thru all the reviews and I checked the topic headings on the YM&O board.)As for the film, I enjoy it although I was later disappointed to find that nearly all the scenes were Hollywood contrivances that some hacks felt were necessary to "punch up the script". What a shame. Read the book.