| Mother Riley Meets the Vampire | |
| Director: | John Gilling |
| Producer: | John Gilling Stanley Couzins George Minter |
| Screenplay: | Val Valentine |
| Story: | Val Valentine Richard Gordon |
| Starring: | Arthur Lucan Bela Lugosi |
| Music: | Lindo Southworth |
| Cinematography: | Stanley Pavey |
| Editing: | Leonard Trumm |
| Studio: | Fernwood Productions |
| Distributor: | Renown Pictures (UK) |
| Released: | (UK) |
| Runtime: | 74 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (also known as Vampire Over London and My Son, the Vampire) is a 1952 British horror comedy film directed by John Gilling, starring Arthur Lucan and Bela Lugosi.[1] It was filmed at Nettlefold Studios.
This was the final film of the Old Mother Riley film series, and did not feature Lucan's wife and business partner Kitty McShane, from whom he had separated in 1951. The film was later released in the U.S. in 1963 as My Son, the Vampire.
A self-described vampire wants to built an army of robots to fulfill his goal of world domination. His only functional robot is accidentally shipped to Mother Riley. The vampire proceeds to kidnap Mother Riley.
Von Housen seeks world domination from his headquarters in London with an army of 50,000 radar-controlled robots that are powered by uranium. He believes himself to be a vampire and has several young women abducted, most recently Julia Loretti, who has a map to a uranium mine that he needs for his robot army.
At the moment, Von Housen only has one functional robot which is supposed to be shipped to him but, through a mistake, is shipped to Old Mother Riley's store instead, with Mother Riley's package sent to Von Housen. Seeing Mother Riley's address in the label, Von Housen sends his robot to abduct Mother Riley and take her to his headquarters.
On the suggestion of producer Richard Gordon, Bela Lugosi had travelled to the UK to appear in a stage play of Dracula, which failed. He needed money to return to the US. Gordon persuaded fellow producer George Minter to use Lugosi in a film in London. Arthur Lucan had starred in a sequence of Old Mother Riley films. It was felt that Lugosi's presence in the cast might give the new film a chance of success outside Britain.[2]
Lugosi was paid $5,000 for his role. The plot was taken from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.[3]
Gordon says that although John Gilling was credited as producer, George Minter was the real producer. Filming took four weeks.[3]
Richard Gordon recalled that there were plans to shoot additional scenes with Lugosi and without Arthur Lucan for the American market, but the idea was never put into motion.
Gordon also stated that the film emphasised that Lugosi's character was not a real vampire so that it would get a U certificate allowing children, who were Old Mother Riley's biggest audience, to see it.[3]
Lucan's understudy Roy Rolland stood in for him in the more physical stunts in the film.
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire was released in the United Kingdom in July 1952. The film was not a success in the box-office. It was not released in the United States until 1963.[2]
The American distributors originally planned to retitle the film Vampire Over London, and prints do exist with that title, although it is not clear if they were ever distributed.[4]
Later it was to have been changed to Carry On, Vampire for its American release but Anglo-Amalgamated (the producers of the popular British Carry On film series) successfully sued, with the title finally being changed to My Son, the Vampire as a tie-in to American comedian Allan Sherman's My Son, the Folksinger hit comedy record. It featured an introductory sequence with a song by Allan Sherman called "My Son, the Vampire".[5] [6]
Lugosi was offered the lead in a proposed 1953 sequel to the Mother Riley film produced by J. Arthur Rank, on the condition that Lugosi had to travel back to England to appear in it, but he was too ill to travel. Producer Alex Gordon proposed inserting newly filmed Hollywood footage of Lugosi into the 1951 film to create an extended version of it to be titled King Robot, but that project was also abandoned since by 1953, Lugosi's physical appearance failed to match the earlier footage of himself.[7]
Kine Weekly wrote: "Comedy thriller, combining the exuberance of Arthur (Old Mother Riley) Lucan with the fruity macabre of Bela Lugosi. ... Simple fun and hearty shocks, plus compelling title and star values, make it a sound attraction for the masses and youngsters, Good popular 'quota'. ... The picture is a trifle laboured at the start and the most is not made of the vampire asides, but, no matter, laughs and thrills, fashioned in an evergreen mould, pile up towards the finish. Arthur Lucan puts over his famous dame act with characteristic aplomb and sings a catchy ditty as Old Mother Riley and Bela Lugosi, although restrained, makes an effective foil as Von Housen. The final schemozzle in which bicycle, motor-cycle and old crock car are employed is excellently timed and aptly rounds off the zany, cunningly cast low-life extravaganza."[8]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Stupid, humourless and repulsive."[9]