Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

My Son the Vampire AKA Vampire Over London (1952) or "Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire" (original title).This is a cute comedy-horror film. We have Bela Lugosi as "the vampire" Von Housen, Arthur Lucan in drag as Mother Mrs. O'Riley and a robot controlled by "the vampire" Von Housen trying to take over the world. Mrs. O'Riley in her comical ways will try to help stop the vampire from world domination. What more do you want from a zany comedy?! Mrs. O'Riley has to give us a song and dance - which is kinda cute but certainly not the highlight of the film - I personally think the highlight is Lugosi and the robot - but that is my taste.A fun film overall.6/10

MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE is the last in a long-running series of films (going since the 1930s) featuring Arthur Lucan in the title role of Old Mother Riley, a bad-tempered Irish washerwoman who always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This one's the only one in the series of interest to horror fans, thanks to a starring role for an aged Bela Lugosi, playing a sinister vampire with nefarious plans for England.Basically, this is MRS BROWN'S BOYS for the mid-20th century audience, and as juvenile and silly as it sounds. Most of the comedy involves groan-worthy slapstick, pitfalls, and dumb dialogue gags. Lucan is certainly an acquired taste, although I suppose he does grow on you a little bit as the film progresses, but it's still a very dated slice of British comedy. In fact the only part I really liked was the chase-based climax, which brings in some humorous Laurel & Hardy style sight gags. The cardboard robot is fun though, and narrowly predates the introduction of Robby the Robot in FORBIDDEN PLANET.Lugosi is given quite a fair bit of screen time to be menacing and is, well, Lugosi. What's impressive is that he takes this film just as seriously as his Universal classics, and is the best thing in this. However, MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE is also worthy of note thanks to the presence of some familiar British comedy actors, including Hattie Jacques in an unlikely song-and-dance routine. Dora Bryan (CARRY ON SERGEANT) has a minor role and there are cameos for Charles Lloyd Pack, John Le Mesurier, and George Benson, although I was unable to spot the latter two. Future Hammer director John Gilling helmed this one.

Being a real Bela Lugosi fanatic, I just 'stumbled' into this movie by pure coincidence - I didn't even know that it was one of Arthur Lucan's 'Old Mother Riley' vehicles, of which I'd only heard so far, nor that it was the last one of this long-running (and I'm sure, tremendously funny) film series; so, simply following the label 'starring Bela Lugosi', I got mixed up, just like 'Old Mother Riley' did in this adventure, in one of the most HILARIOUS British comedies I've ever seen, with the humor certainly at its MOST British - in the most positive sense! An absolutely outrageous story about a mad scientist who believes he is a vampire and wants to rule the world with an army of robots, and the permanently broke old shop owner 'Mrs. Riley', whom some crazy twists of fate bring together - from here on, you can just STOP thinking, and start enjoying the slapstick-like chase scenes, the wonderful displays of Arthur Lucan's GREAT comical talent - and a really TOTALLY 'unknown' Bela Lugosi, who seems to feel ABSOLUTELY at ease with all that nonsense, and obviously has got a great lot of fun with deliberately overplaying his well-known 'mad scientist' image! (NO comparison at all with the entirely unfunny Hollywood 'comedy' he did - or maybe HAD to do, for financial reasons - the same year called "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla"...) Of course, this movie DOES require a good sense of (British) humor; but I'm sure that EVERY fan of horror classics, and especially of Bela Lugosi, who is equipped with a little bit of said sense of humor will LOVE this crazy spoof - and will be wanting to see more of those hilarious 'Old Mother Riley' films!

2 of 10 just to say you saw Legosi before he totally went deep end from old age and whatever he was on (morphene?), well maybe not. I rented this and I would commend it if it was funny, or not intentionally funny but ended up funny or scary or not scary but stupid. Basically you get none of the mentioned, it's just a horrid waste of time. Get really really drunk or drugged up (whatever your pleasure I am not condoning drug use), put this on and than fall asleep and just remember that this is a bad flick. Probably was when it first came out and it definitely is now. Don't say I didn't warn you. Oh I know you will watch it anyway being the optimist you are and Legosi lover from his Universal days, but believe me, this is about the lowest Legosi will get on my list and that includes Ed Wood stuff (at least that was so bad it was funny), it's even below Monogram, really really bad (no really).