Sunday 24 January 2010

MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE/My Son the Vampire (1952)


This film is often seen as a low point in Bela Lugosi's career but the truth is far from that. More accurately it should be seen as the pinnacle of Arthur Lucan's career.He was not encumbered by Mrs.Lucan (the awful Kitty McShane) who couldn't deliver a line if she's been a Postman, and, for once Lucan has a decent director at the helm in the late John Gilling who was always capable of telling a story. Lugosi is on top form and seems to be enjoying himself with such lines as "Am I going mad? Is this a nightmare" - no Bela it's just Old Mother Riley. Lucan, although his style of comedy probably died with the Music Halls, shows his accomplished timing with both dialogue and slapstick. The supporting cast is a total joy with such familiar faces as Dora Bryan, Hattie Jaques,Dandy Nicholls, Graham Moffatt, Judith Furse, Charles Lloyd Pack, George Benson and John Le Mesurier. Dandy and Hattie get to back Lucan in a musical number and it is pure joy to see these much loved actresses so early in their careers. Dora is excellent as the confused maid being wooed by policeman Richard Wattis. And for those into genealogy there is Charles Lloyd Pack, father of Roger and grandfather of Emily. Rating ***

4 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Cerpts said...

I agree with what the previous comment said.

Who knows why this film gets a bad rap sometimes? I'm suspecting it's automatic to say "Oh poor Bela he was stuck in that awful picture" but the truth is it's still entertaining. I suspect another reason why the film doesn't get its due in the States is because we don't know enough to know who all Bela's British co-stars are and miss that connection with the players. If we would just watch the movie in front of us, we'd probably find we like it a lot more than we suspect.

Weaverman said...

Well, apologies to the first person to comment but as every line in your post is a link I'm not going to click on any. Who knows what we might conjure up!
I advise others who might be tempted to be cautious.

To Cerpts...Well said. As a sidebar, I am sending this film and THE MUMMY'S SHROUD to the director John Gilling's sister who lives in Holland and is unwell. Surprisingly she had seen none of her late brothers films until I recently sent her a copy of RECOIL.

Cerpts said...

From experience, that first comment is definitely spam and you would do well to avoid it and delete it.