An Error in Chemistry

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"An Error in Chemistry"
Climax! episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 7
Directed by William H. Brown Jr.
Teleplay by David Dortort
Based onAn Error in Chemistry
by William Faulkner
Presented by William Lundigan
Original air dateDecember 2, 1954 (1954-12-02)
Running time60 minutes [1]
List of episodes

"An Error in Chemistry" is a 1954 American television play based on the like-named William Faulkner story, which first appeared in the June 1946 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine . [2] It was the seventh episode of the anthology series Climax! and starred Edmond O'Brien as Joel Flint.

Contents

The episode was broadcast live. [3]

Cast

Reception

Reviewing the episode for the New York Herald Tribune , John Crosby wrote, "this may have been the best television drama I have ever seen" (a fact he attributes equally to all parties concerned), [4] while Hollywood Reporter critic Milton Luban's equally emphatic thumbs-up focuses primarily on Brown's "beautiful directing job, from both performance and acting viewpoints, his crowd handling being masterful," and on O'Brien's "brillian[ce]."

O'Brien has turned in far too many brilliant performances to call this his best, but it certainly ranks close to it, [...] getting every nuance out of the role yet maintaining a certain inscrutability that keeps his motives a complete mystery until the bitterly ironic climax. [3]

Time magazine likewise singled out O'Brien's performance but deemed the story's climax "too forced and too trifling to support an hour show." [1]

At the Seventh Annual Emmy Awards, adaptor David Dortort's script received a nomination for Best Written Dramatic Material. [5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Radio & TV: The Week in Review; Brisk Gallop". Time Magazine. December 13, 1954. p. 36.
  2. ↑ Duvall, John N. (Spring 2017). "'An Error in Chemistry': The Final Typescript". The Faulkner Journal. p. 1.
  3. 1 2 Luban, Milton (December 3, 1954). "TV Review: 'Climax! – An Error in Chemistry'". The Hollywood Reporter. p. 8. ProQuest   2338182185. From the opening moment showing a carnival scene crowded with spectators, it was hard to believe that, apart from the spontaneity, this was a live production. William H. Brown, Jr., did a beautiful directing job ...
  4. ↑ Crosby, John (December 6, 1954). "RADIO AND TELEVISION: Great Drama". New York Herald Tribune. p. 21. ProQuest   1322566286. The works of Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner seem wonderfully adaptable to television. I have seen two—the first, 'Barn Burning,' on the last of the Suspense programs [...] The other one was 'An Error in Chemistry' last Thursday night, and this may have been the best television drama I have ever seen.
  5. ↑ Michaell, Paul; Parish, James Robert (1970). The Emmy Awards; A Pictorial History . New York: Crown Publishers. p. 308. LCCN   76-108082.
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