Mother Riley Meets the Vampire | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Gilling |
Screenplay by | Val Valentine |
Story by | Val Valentine Richard Gordon |
Produced by | John Gilling Stanley Couzins George Minter [1] |
Starring | Arthur Lucan Bela Lugosi |
Cinematography | Stanley Pavey |
Edited by | Leonard Trumm |
Music by | Lindo Southworth |
Production company | Fernwood Productions |
Distributed by | Renown Pictures (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 74 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire, also known as Vampire Over London or My Son, the Vampire, is a 1952 British horror comedy film directed by John Gilling, starring Arthur Lucan and Bela Lugosi that was filmed at Nettlefold Studios. [2]
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.
In the film, 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. [3]
Lugosi was paid $5,000 for his role. The plot was taken from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein . [1]
Gordon says that although John Gilling was credited as producer, George Minter was the real producer. Filming took four weeks. [1]
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. [1]
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. [4] The film was not a success in the box-office. It was not released in the United States until 1963. [3]
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. [5]
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". [6] [7]
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. [8]
From a contemporary review, a reviewer in the Monthly Film Bulletin dismissed the film, simply declaring it "Stupid, humourless and repulsive." [9]
{{cite book}}
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ignored (help)Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó, known professionally as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian–American actor, best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror film classic Dracula, Ygor in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and his roles in many other horror films from 1931 through 1956.
Edward Davis Wood Jr. was an American filmmaker, actor, screenwriter, and pulp novelist.
Scared to Death is a 1947 American gothic thriller film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, Nat Pendleton and Molly Lamont. The picture was filmed in Cinecolor. The film is historically important as the only color film in which Bela Lugosi has a starring role. Lionel Atwill was originally slated to appear in the film, but he was too ill to work, so George Zucco replaced him in the cast. Christy Cabanne completed the film in early 1946, but it wasn't screened until 1947.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a 1948 American horror comedy film directed by Charles Barton. The film features Count Dracula who has become partners with Dr. Sandra Mornay, as Dracula requires a "simple, pliable" brain to reactivate Frankenstein's monster. Dracula discovers that the "ideal" brain belongs to Wilbur Grey who is wooed by Mornay to the operating table, despite the warnings of Lawrence Talbot.
Mark of the Vampire is a 1935 American horror film, starring Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, and Jean Hersholt, and directed by Tod Browning. A series of deaths and attacks by vampires brings the eminent expert Professor Zelen to the aid of Irena Borotyn, who is about to be married. Her father, Sir Karell, died from complete loss of blood, with bite wounds on his neck, and it appears he may be one of the undead now plaguing the area.
Dracula is a 1931 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed and co-produced by Tod Browning from a screenplay written by Garrett Fort and starring Bela Lugosi in the title role. It is based on the 1924 stage play Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which in turn is adapted from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Lugosi portrays Count Dracula, a vampire who emigrates from Transylvania to England and preys upon the blood of living victims, including a young man's fiancée.
Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the 1944 film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra.
Old Mother Riley is a fictional character portrayed from about 1934 to 1954 by Arthur Lucan and from 1954 to the 1980s by Roy Rolland as part of a British music hall act.
Bela Lugosi (1882–1956), best known for the original screen portrayal of Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1931, performed in many films during the course of his 39-year film career. He appeared in films made in his native Hungary, Germany and New York before re-locating to Hollywood in 1928. Films are listed in order of release.
Son of Frankenstein is a 1939 American horror film directed by Rowland V. Lee and starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. The film is the third in Universal Pictures' Frankenstein series and is the follow-up to the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein. Son of Frankenstein stars Rathbone as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein who, with his wife Elsa and son Peter, returns to his late father's estate. Near the castle lives Ygor, a crazed blacksmith whose neck was broken in an unsuccessful hanging attempt. Among the castle's remains, Frankenstein discovers the remains of the Monster and decides to try to save his family name by resurrecting the creature to prove his father was correct. He finds, however, the Monster only responds to Ygor's commands.
Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla is a 1952 American comedy horror science fiction film, directed by William Beaudine and starring horror veteran Bela Lugosi with nightclub performers Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo in roles approximating the then-popular duo of Martin and Lewis.
Murders in the Rue Morgue is a 1932 American horror film directed by Robert Florey, based on Edgar Allan Poe's 1841 short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". The plot is about Doctor Mirakle, a carnival sideshow entertainer and scientist who kidnaps Parisian women to mix their blood with that of his gorilla, Erik. As his experiments fail because of the quality of his victims' blood, Mirakle meets with Camille L'Espanye, and has her kidnapped and her mother murdered, leading to suspicion falling on Camille's fiance, Pierre Dupin, a medical student who has already become interested in the earlier murders.
The Return of the Vampire is a 1943 American horror film directed by Lew Landers and starring Bela Lugosi, Frieda Inescort, Nina Foch, Miles Mander, Roland Varno, and Matt Willis. Its plot follows a vampire named Armand Tesla, who has two encounters with Englishwoman Lady Jane Ainsley, the first taking place during World War I, and the second during World War II.
Carroll Borland better known by the stage-spelling Carol Borland, was an American professor, writer, and actress. She is best known for having portrayed Luna, the daughter of Bela Lugosi's character, Count Mora, in Mark of the Vampire, and for creating the iconic look of the female vampire with her waist-length dark hair and Adrian-designed shroud in this film.
Küzdelem a létért is a 1918 Hungarian drama film directed by Alfréd Deésy. It is based on French writer Alphonse Daudet's 1889 play La lutte pour la vie. The film was advertised and discussed in Hungarian trade publications as A Leopard.
Az élet királya is a 1918 Hungarian film directed by Alfréd Deésy. It is an adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
The Silent Command is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards featuring Bela Lugosi as a foreign saboteur in his American film debut. The film, written by Anthony Paul Kelly and Rufus King, also stars Edmund Lowe, Alma Tell, and Martha Mansfield. The Silent Command began Lugosi's career in the American film industry. The film's focus on his eyes, at times in extreme close-up, helped to establish his image for later roles.
Lock Up Your Daughters is a 1959 horror film starring Bela Lugosi. Due to the lack of information on its production and release, it is uncertain whether it is a lost film or if it ever existed.
The Dark Eyes of London is a 1939 British horror film produced by John Argyle and directed by Walter Summers, and starring Béla Lugosi, Hugh Williams, and Greta Gynt. The film is an adaptation of the 1924 novel of the same name by Edgar Wallace. The film is about a scientist named Dr. Orloff who commits a series of murders for insurance money, while periodically disguising himself as the blind manager of a charity to further his scheme.
Dracula is a film series of horror films from Universal Pictures based on the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker and its 1927 play adaptation. The series is a loose collection of films, with historians stating that the films all reference characters, events or at least passing knowledge of the 1931 English-language production of Dracula, with historians noting that Dracula's Daughter and Son of Dracula are more closely related to the 1931 film while the character of Dracula would make smaller appearances in later films such as House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. After Dracula's Daughter, the character of Dracula and other vampires in the series became more Americanized, starting with the release of Son of Dracula, and the later House of films. The character of Dracula appears in all the films outside of Dracula's Daughter, where he is portrayed by Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr., and John Carradine in the House of films.