This farcical British comedy follows the eccentric misadventures of a family who have their own rather unusual way of doing things. Mr. Groomkirby (
Eric Sykes) is redecorating his living room to resemble the courtrooms at Old Bailey, with a mind toward staging mock trials for fun. His wife, Mrs. Groomkirby (
Alison Leggatt) hates to see leftovers go to waste, so she hires a woman to eat them. Their daughter Sylvia (
Julia Foster) is fascinated by primates and spends much of her time at the zoo, and son Kirby (Jonathan Miller) believes that scales can have other uses rather than just weighing things -- they can be used to make music, too! Based on a popular novel, One Way Pendulum was directed by
Peter Yates, who would go on to make
Bullitt and
Breaking Away. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide