That's not really a new idea either - see 1 min 15 seconds in to this clip from the 1955 film The Lady Killers. Note the use of the mallet to shake the airlock. Vaguely reminiscent of some plumbing when I was a kid, but even then I do not think it was quite that bad. (I'm not that old either )
The communication rather than power version is also alluded to in the far more recent film Paddington when the inmates in jail communicate by tapping on the pipes.
