One Way Pendulum

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.

The weirdness of this film is made all the more bizarre by its seemingly normal cast. The behaviour of each member of the family is eccentric in the extreme. It's not side splitting funny, rather I can't believe they've done that funny. Eric Sykes is a comic genius, who can just make me laugh by just being there, the rest of the family aren't particularly funny but it's their eccentric behaviour which makes them so outrageous. George Cole and Peggy Mount are legends. To say that this film inspired Pythons, maybe, although it's a lot weirder than python humour for the time. It certainly showcases British eccentricity and sets the tone for the comic acts that followed.

I have longed to see this film and pestered Turner to show it for years, and finally they put it on in October 2011 as part of a Peter Yates series. It has a wonderful cast of British actors, including Graham Crowden (who appeared in the original play), George Cole, Mona Washbourne and Glyn Houston.

Jonathan Miller is cast against type as an almost nonverbal character who is training talking weighing machines to sing as a chorus. I was amazed to hear one of the songs they sang was Michael Brown's LIZZIE BORDEN from NEW FACES OF 1952! If you haven't read the play, you may have trouble following this when a living room turns into a court room; it must have been easier to grasp this watching it on stage where the room was assembled before the audience by the eccentric father.

Thank you, Turner, for finally letting the public see this!

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.

Watched this tonight on Talking Pictures. I was about 5 yrs old when this was made. Very nostalgic & featured several familiar TV faces from the time (UK), Brilliant. As other reviewers have stated it looks like a hybrid of Spike / Python before their time. Obviously the Court scene is the best but watching Peggy Mount consume 10,000 calories eating in the kitchen is great. If the aforesaid genre is not your SOH then avoid it gut otherwise just enjoy this rarity.