Kurt at 17:23, 2 September 2024

2024-09-02T17:23:36Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:23, 2 September 2024
Line 2:		Line 2:
	\| name = One Way Pendulum		\| name = One Way Pendulum
	\| image = One Way Pendulum (1964 film).jpg		\| image = One Way Pendulum (1964 film).jpg

	~~\| caption = Campaign book cover~~
	\| director = [[Peter Yates]]		\| director = [[Peter Yates]]
	\| producer = [[Michael Deeley]]<br />[[Oscar Lewenstein]]		\| producer = [[Michael Deeley]]<br />[[Oscar Lewenstein]]

Kurt at 17:22, 2 September 2024

2024-09-02T17:22:28Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:22, 2 September 2024
Line 1:		Line 1:
	~~{{Short description\|1965 British film by Peter Yates}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=June 2016}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=June 2016}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = One Way Pendulum		\| name = One Way Pendulum
	\| image = ~~"One_Way_Pendulum"_~~(~~1964_film~~).jpg		\| image = One Way Pendulum (1964 film).jpg

	\| caption = Campaign book cover		\| caption = Campaign book cover

Kurt: /* External links */

2024-08-27T00:54:33Z

External links

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:54, 26 August 2024
Line 75:		Line 75:
	*{{IMDb title\|id=0059542}}		*{{IMDb title\|id=0059542}}
	*[https://www.reelstreets.com/films/one-way-pendulum/ ''One Way Pendulum''] then-and-now location photographs at [https://www.reelstreets.com/ ReelStreets]		*[https://www.reelstreets.com/films/one-way-pendulum/ ''One Way Pendulum''] then-and-now location photographs at [https://www.reelstreets.com/ ReelStreets]

	~~{{Peter Yates}}~~

	[[Category:1965 films]]		[[Category:1965 films]]

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2024-08-27T00:44:48Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 19:44, 26 August 2024
(No difference)

en>Tobyhoward: Added BFI ref, MFB review, EL ReelStreets

2024-02-11T22:48:07Z

Added BFI ref, MFB review, EL ReelStreets

New page

{{Short description|1965 British film by Peter Yates}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = One Way Pendulum
| image = "One_Way_Pendulum"_(1964_film).jpg

| caption = Campaign book cover
| director = [[Peter Yates]]
| producer = [[Michael Deeley]]<br />[[Oscar Lewenstein]]
| based_on = {{Based on|''[[One Way Pendulum (play)|One Way Pendulum]]''|N. F. Simpson}}
| writer = [[N. F. Simpson]]
| narrator =
| starring = [[Eric Sykes]]<br />[[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]]
| music = [[Richard Rodney Bennett]]
| cinematography = [[Denys Coop|Denys N. Coop]]
| editing = [[Peter Taylor (film editor)|Peter Taylor]]
| studio = [[Woodfall Film Productions]]
| distributor = [[United Artists]]
| released = {{Film date|1965|01|28|df=yes}}
| runtime = 90 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget = £40,000<ref name="Deeley">Michael Deeley, ''Blade Runners, Deer Hunters and Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies'', Pegasus Books, 2009, pp. 27-29</ref> or $150,000<ref name="new"/>
| gross =
}}

'''''One Way Pendulum''''' is a 1965 British [[comedy film]] directed by [[Peter Yates]] and starring [[Eric Sykes]] and [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]]. It is an adaptation of [[One Way Pendulum (play)|the play]] by [[N. F. Simpson]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=One Way Pendulum |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150038179 |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://allmovie.com/work/one-way-pendulum-104927 |title=One Way Pendulum |website=Allmovie.com}}</ref>

==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 attic.

==Cast==
* [[Eric Sykes]] as Mr. Groomkirby
* [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]] as Defence counsel / friend
* [[Julia Foster]] as Sylvia
* [[Jonathan Miller]] as Kirby
* [[Peggy Mount]] as Mrs. Mara Gantry
* [[Alison Leggatt]] as Mrs. Groomkirby
* [[Mona Washbourne]] as Aunt Mildred
* [[Douglas Wilmer]] as Judge / Maintenance Man
* [[Glyn Houston]] as Detective Inspector Barnes
* [[Graham Crowden]] as Prosecuting Counsel / Caretaker
* [[Ken Farrington]] as Stan
* Walter Horsbrugh as Clerk of the Court / Drycleaner's Assistant
* [[Frederick Piper]] as Usher / Office Clerk
* Vincent Harding as Policeman / Bus Conductor
* [[Trevor Bannister]] as Groomkirby's colleague (uncredited)
* [[Tommy Bruce]] as Gormless (the voice of the 'Speak your Weight' machine).

==Production==
===Development===
Producer [[Michael Deeley]] and director [[Peter Yates]] wanted to work on a project together and saw the play at the [[Royal Court Theatre]]. Yates was excited at the prospect of the material being so different from his first feature, ''[[Summer Holiday (1963 film)|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 film)|Tom Jones]]'' (1963). Writer [[John Osborne]] helped introduce Yates and Simpson to [[United Artists]].<ref name="new"/>

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.<ref name="new">BRITISH FILM SCENE: 'NEW' LION
By STEPHEN WATTS LONDON. ''[[The New York Times]]'', 12 April 1964: X6.</ref>

===Filming===
The film was the first from Woodfall to be shot in a studio and commenced filming at [[Twickenham Studios]] in March 1964.<ref name="Deeley"/>

==Critical 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.<ref name="Deeley"/>

''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "N. F. Simpson's play has resisted translation to the screen to an extent that may surprise even those who never expect much from filmed plays. The dialogue, with its humour somehow completely self-contained, is still the only thing that matters; a few outdoor sequences do not make a film. Perhaps, too, the play worked better as a joke because its link with reality was more casual; it ran parallel to life in a suburban semi-detached rather than represented it exactly. When one is confronted with a real house in a real street, expertly shot for shabby authenticity by the ''[[Billy Liar (film)|Billy Liar!]]'' [1963] and [[A Kind of Loving (film)|''A Kind Of Loving'']] [1962] cameraman, [[Denys Coop]], it is a very different matter. Film-wise one has been here rather often before, and the feeling of familiarity is increased by the high incidence of type-casting: notably Alison Leggatt as the matter-of-fact mother, Mona Washbourne as the invalid aunt and Peggy Mount as the daily who consumes the left-overs. All this is like a rather feeble parody of what has been described as the [[British New Wave]]. Eric Sykes and Jonathan Miller, on the other hand, veer towards caricature in their portrayals of the obsessed father and his automatous son. But at least the latter, conducting his weighing machines, provides the only memorable (if oft repeated) image in a film so visually ineffectual, particularly during the longish fantasy trial, that one might get the message just as well blindfold."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1965 |title=One Way Pendulum |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305836155/36E4FAEE888B4A90PQ/1 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=32 |issue=372 |pages=36 |via=ProQuest}}</ref>

The film received a poor review in the [[The New York Times|''New York Times'']] from critic [[Howard Thompson (film critic)|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 (1963 film)|''Tom Jones'']]."<ref>{{cite news |title=Movie Review: One Way Pendulum |last=Thompson |first=Howard |date=3 March 1965 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A04E4DF153CE733A25750C0A9659C946491D6CF |access-date=2011-01-15}}</ref>

==Release==
The film had its world premiere on 28 January 1965 at the Rialto cinema in London.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Evening Standard]]|date=28 January 1965|page=13|title=One Way Pendulum (advert)}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0059542}}
*[https://www.reelstreets.com/films/one-way-pendulum/ ''One Way Pendulum''] then-and-now location photographs at [https://www.reelstreets.com/ ReelStreets]

{{Peter Yates}}

[[Category:1965 films]]
[[Category:1965 comedy films]]
[[Category:1960s satirical films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:British films based on plays]]
[[Category:British satirical films]]
[[Category:Films about dysfunctional families]]
[[Category:Films directed by Peter Yates]]
[[Category:Films scored by Richard Rodney Bennett]]
[[Category:United Artists films]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]

One Way Pendulum (film) - Revision history

Kurt at 17:23, 2 September 2024

Kurt at 17:22, 2 September 2024

Kurt: /* External links */

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Tobyhoward: Added BFI ref, MFB review, EL ReelStreets