"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.Duvall, John N. (Spring 2017). "'An Error in Chemistry': The Final Typescript". The Faulkner Journal. p. 1. It was the seventh episode of the anthology series Climax! and starred Edmond O'Brien as Joel Flint.
The episode was broadcast live.
Cast Edmond O'Brien as Joel Flint Lon Chaney as Old Man Pritchell Douglas Kennedy as Uncle Gavin Tommy Ivo as Billy Sartoris Margaret Field as M'Liss James Bell as Sheriff Dan White as Ben Berry William Schallert as Young Farmer
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), 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. 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.""Radio & TV: The Week in Review; Brisk Gallop". Time Magazine. December 13, 1954. p. 36.
At the Seventh Annual Emmy Awards, adaptor David Dortort's script received a nomination for Best Written Dramatic Material.Michaell, Paul; Parish, James Robert (1970). The Emmy Awards; A Pictorial History. New York: Crown Publishers. p. 308. .
References
External links An Error in Chemistry at IMDb