December 2007

This review in  Variety may well be a preview of what we can expect from the major, mainstream theatrical press.  A few excerpts:  Chronicling the birth of television and the ensuing patent war through the clash between an enterprising scientific genius from Utah and a Russian immigrant turned hard-nosed corporate honcho, "The Farnsworth Invention" tells […]

So says amNY.com. Tackling a plot that revolves around loopholes in the patent system and photoelectron theory must not have been easy. But Sorkin has endowed his characters with crackling dialogue, sympathetic emotions and risky character choices. Well, amen to that. 

Hank Azaria, Broadway.com Buzz: Q: So, make the case that Sarnoff didn’t totally screw over Philo Farnsworth, the young guy who invented television. A: It’s actually an easy case to make. First of all, the truth is that it was the efforts of many, many men that made television happen. It really was! Farnsworth had

Apparently a lot of these reviews were published today, in anticipation of the opening this evening.  Here’s one from The New York Sun: Pem Farnsworth, Philo’s partner in life and work, died last year at the age of 98. According to Mr. Simpson, she had become friends with Aaron Sorkin. "She was so excited that

FT.com / Arts & Weekend The dialogue, meanwhile, gives mostly the appearance of panache: the biggest laugh comes late in the evening from a recycled joke about oral sex. For my taste, Farnsworth relies too heavily on narration; by the time Farnsworth and Sarnoff meet face-to-face I was so grateful for the dramatisation that I

Looks like Kurt Loder of  MTV News has done his homework: Unfortunately, in one instance, Sorkin ventures beyond the realm of taking liberties into factual distortion. In a proceeding at the U.S. Patent Office, we see a judge rejecting Farnsworth’s petition and awarding the rights to the contested television technology to Zworykin. This is the