One Way Pendulum (film)

One Way Pendulum
Campaign book cover
Directed by Peter Yates
Produced by Michael Deeley
Oscar Lewenstein
Written by N. F. Simpson
Based on One Way Pendulum
by N. F. Simpson
Starring Eric Sykes
George Cole
Music by Richard Rodney Bennett
Cinematography Denys N. Coop
Edited by Peter Taylor
Production
company
Release date
 21 January 1965
Running time
 90 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget £40,000[1]or $150,000[2]

One Way Pendulum is a 1965 British comedy film directed by Peter Yates and starring Eric Sykes and George Cole. It is an adaptation of the play by N. F. Simpson.[3]

Plot

Study of absurdity in a suburban family: father rebuilds the Old Bailey in the living room, and the son teaches weighing machines to sing in the bathroom.[4]

Cast

Production

Producer Michael Deeley and director Peter Yates wanted to work on a project together and saw the play at the Royal Court. Yates was excited at the prospect of the material being so different from his first feature, Summer Holiday (1963), and Deeley managed to set up the film at Woodfall Film Productions, then flush with money in the wake of the success of Tom Jones (1963). Writer John Osborn helped introduce Yates and Simpson to United Artists.[2]

Simpson said he had received a number of offers to film the play but turned them down because he did not feel it was a movie. He changed his mind after a meeting with Yates where the director said the words were key to visual concepts. "He was the first film man I met I felt I could work with," said Simpson who wrote the script and was on set every day.[2]

The film was the first from Woodfall to be shot in a studio and commenced filming at Twickenham Studios in March 1964.[1]

Reception

The film was poorly received by the public and did not recoup its money. However Woodfall Films was impressed by Michael Deeley and hired him to work for the company.[1]

Review

The film received a poor review from Howard Thompson, who wrote that it was "a new serving of British-stirred froth that weighs almost as much as Big Ben. And how it got those friendly notices back in the homeland, we'll never know. The picture is excruciatingly coy and flat, coming, believe it or not, from the Woodfall production unit that gave us, among other things, 'Tom Jones'.".[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Michael Deeley, Blade Runners, Deer Hunters and Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies, Pegasus Books, 2009 p 27-29
  2. 1 2 3 BRITISH FILM SCENE: 'NEW' LION By STEPHEN WATTSLONDON. New York Times 12 Apr 1964: X6.
  3. ↑ "One Way Pendulum". allmovie.com.
  4. ↑ http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b228f8f
  5. ↑ Thompson, Howard (3 March 1965). "Movie Review: One Way Pendulum". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
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