It may be fortunate that this movie version of the Broadway hit "A Majority of One" runs a whopping 156 minutes--it takes nearly that long to accept Rosalind Russell as a Jewish widow from Brooklyn. Speaking with a broad Yiddish inflection (weary but wise), hovering like a mother hen, not listening or comprehending--just talking--Russell is encouraged by producer-director Mervyn LeRoy to give a stereotypical Jewish performance, nothing more. Her chatty Mrs. Jacoby is persuaded by her daughter and son-in-law to move with them to Japan after he becomes stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, but first her shock has to wear off (she's anti-Japanese after the death of her son during World War II). On the ship sailing for Tokyo, she meets wealthy Japanese gentleman Alec Guinness, who also lost his children in the war (to the Americans). After some polite-but-rude chit-chat, they take a shine to each other, but Russell's daughter frowns on their friendship, telling mama she's only being used because the businessman will need the Embassy's support in future East-West financial matters. Guinness is no better cast than Russell (it's excruciating when he jokes about pronouncing 'lollipop'). Still, Leonard Spigelgass's script, adapted from his play, has several funny jokes and interesting conversation, and the two stars settle almost comfortably into their roles (their final scene together is quite lovely). By examining strange customs, assimilation of foreign cultures, ignorant prejudice, and general misunderstandings between men and women (the latter in a slightly-joshing and sentimental vein), Spigelgass makes the length tolerable and the characters amiable. **1/2 from ****
Review of A Majority of One
