A bad movie is a bad movie no matter how good looking it is or how technically well done it appears to be. It's not just a weak script. That is expected in most sitcomish 1960's romantic comedies. What is really annoying here is the presence of Red Buttons, an actor who I think was always directed to never shut up. As the annoying uncle of Shirley Jones, he comes in out of the blue here half an hour in, and becomes like the awful relative who shows up for an impromptu visit, and never leaves....the living room. Fortunately, he's just on leave but that time that he is on screen is excruciating.
The basic plot line has Shirley Jones as the widow with three children living near a navy base in San Diego who begins to romance naval officer Gig Young who showed up when one of the sons lit up an S. O. S. On the roof. Opinionated sister-in-law Carolyn Jones shows up to offer unsolicited advice, and is barely more tolerable than Buttons, one of the few times I didn't like her on-screen.
As if keeping up with the two Joneses wasn't difficult enough, there's also a bit role of Edgar Buchannan moving kind of slow as Shirley's pop-in-law. The kids (which includes Billy Mumy) are cloying, and the sugar content is cavity inducing. Shirley Jones appeared in the same year's "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", basically the male version of this same plot, parentless child needs mommie or daddy, no single parent allowed. It's not one of her better roles here as she's very one dimensional and not directed well by George Sidney. And oh that ending. The sound a balloon makes with the air being let out is more amusing.
The basic plot line has Shirley Jones as the widow with three children living near a navy base in San Diego who begins to romance naval officer Gig Young who showed up when one of the sons lit up an S. O. S. On the roof. Opinionated sister-in-law Carolyn Jones shows up to offer unsolicited advice, and is barely more tolerable than Buttons, one of the few times I didn't like her on-screen.
As if keeping up with the two Joneses wasn't difficult enough, there's also a bit role of Edgar Buchannan moving kind of slow as Shirley's pop-in-law. The kids (which includes Billy Mumy) are cloying, and the sugar content is cavity inducing. Shirley Jones appeared in the same year's "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", basically the male version of this same plot, parentless child needs mommie or daddy, no single parent allowed. It's not one of her better roles here as she's very one dimensional and not directed well by George Sidney. And oh that ending. The sound a balloon makes with the air being let out is more amusing.