One Way Pendulum

I watched this film with practically no prior knowledge of it and for the first fifteen minutes or so I thought it was shaping up into a typical farce or situation comedy of the era with one or two elements which seemed a little too far-fetched. However, the dialogue and the situations become even more bizarre and then, at about 40 minutes in, the film turns completely on its head with a wholly surreal twist.

This film is wonderfully bonkers, incredibly inventive with a small but excellent cast and a plethora of richly absurd lines of dialogue. The characters almost without exception see the peculiarities in their peers whilst being completely oblivious to their own eccentricities and in that sense is a wonderful observation of our own individual failings. It won't appeal to everyone, but if you like the humour of Monty Python, Spike Milligan or, especially, The Strange World of Gurney Slade, you should love this overlooked, and largely forgotten gem.

I see it flopped on its original release, maybe it was too ahead of its time, or more likely people watched it with expectations that this film would deliver a comprehensible plot with traditional gags. It doesn't. Like the main character, Mr Groomkirby, it exists in a world of its own - and we are privileged to be afforded a glimpse into it.

This is an absolutely bizarre crazy film. You watch puzzled (for me) till the conversation about having arms shortened to fit sleeves and the light bulb brightens:) Saw it in an art theater in the States about 2 years after it was released and was blown away. I have been telling people about it for years and am ecstatic about it being acknowledged as even existing (it was invisible on the Web for a very long time - you had to go to Beyond the Fringe and work backwards) If I could find it it any playable format I would get it in an instant - track the strangeness picked up in later 60's films - Beatles included. If it ever surfaces and you are into 'quirky-ness' be sure to sit back and enjoy.

I first saw this weird film in the early 70's and was aghast at its strangeness. A father (Eric Sykes) who is obsessed with the Old Bailey and is building a replica in his front room, a son who nicks 'speak your weight' machines and adjusts their innards so they sing together like a choir ('fifteen stone, ten pounds!') and an attractive young daughter who thinks she looks like a monkey. Add in a live-in Aunt who thinks she's waiting for a train and Mrs Gantry (the wonderful Peggy Mount) who 'pops in' to eat leftover food (a service for which she makes a charge) and we have what could be a very disturbing film if it wasn't so funny. This film's screenplay must be the product of a disturbed mind, but it is so well done by the cast and director that it works brilliantly. We have a VHS recording of this, made from a 1980's TV showing - I really must dig it out!

I last saw this movie in 1970. I was discussing the funniest movies of all time and this one came to my head. Very bizarre movie, but incredibly funny. Absurd situations and dialog. If you liked Monty Python, this is your movie. I remember one particularly funny line. When asked by a friend why their son always dresses in black, the mother responded that they decided before he was born to dress him in white if he turned out to be black or to dress him in black if he turned out white. Her friend then asks if her husband has any Negro blood. She responds that she's not sure, but he does keep a lot of strange things in jars in the attic. Very non-PC, but it's all in good fun.

A very odd film along the lines of the bed sitting rooms.

Eric Sykes (a film is always worth a watch if Eric is in it) plays an insurance man who is building a copy of the Old Bailey in his living room while his son teaches speak your weight machines to sing. Yes you heard that right but don't let it put you off.

It's a little gem that's well worth 90 minutes of your time.