Yours, Mine and Ours

5/29/2023

Engineering Officer "Frank" (Henry Fonda) loses his wife and after his tour of duty aboard the USS Enterprise is left with the ominous task of returning to San Francisco to look after his ten - yes, that's ten - children! Meantime, "Helen" (Lucille Ball) is in a similar predicament following the death of her husband - but she only has the eight offspring to raise. After a trolley clash in a supermarket, the two adults meet, court and after romance blossoms they decide to marry and raise all of their respective broods under one roof with four bathrooms! Initially, the concept of a film with eighteen kids offering everything from tantrums to hormones did not appeal to me at all. Fonda and Ball, however, really do make this work. It's a bit wordy at times and the humour has dated, but for the