Mother Riley Meets the Vampire
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Mother Riley Meets the Vampire |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1952 |
| length | 74 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Gilling |
| script | Val Valentine |
| production | John Gilling |
| music | Lindo Southworth |
| camera | Stan Pavey |
| cut | Len Trumm |
| occupation | |
| |
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (alternative title: Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire ), also shown under the title Vampire Over London , is a British horror film comedy from 1952 with Bela Lugosi , who here, as so often in his career, is a foreign, megalomaniac scientist plays.
action
When Julia Loretti, daughter of an important Italian scientist, leaves the passenger ship docking in the port, she is approached by a man who speaks a foreign-sounding accent and pushed into his car. The young woman is kidnapped under the eyes of her fiancé, a handsome naval officer. She is one of several people who recently disappeared without a trace. Scotland Yard suspects who is behind it. The name "von Housen" is mentioned in a meeting. This is a foreign scientist who is now popularly known as "The Vampire" because he refers to alleged vampire ancestors. Even in Mother Riley's small grocery store, the mischievous “vampire” is the talk of the day among gossiping customers.
In von Housen's magnificent estate, a dark, castle-like villa, the landlord, awakened by his servant Hitchcock, climbs out of his coffin - a quirk of the scientist that he cultivates out of respect for his alleged vampire ancestors. A little later von Housen's henchman Anton drives up and reports that he kidnapped Julia as instructed, but also had to drag his fiancé into the car. On machines in his basement, von Housen explains to Anton how he intends to achieve world domination. To this end, he plans to manufacture 50,000 robots. So far he has made a robot, a kind of prototype. To produce this enormous number of machine people, he needs a large amount of uranium . "And Miss Loretti is the key," as von Housen explains to his impressed subordinate.
By mistake, the sample robot, which was supposed to be sent to von Housen's address (under the cover name "Dr. Riley"), was handed over to Mother Riley, while von Housen sent the shipment intended for Mother Riley - trivial stuff from an uncle's inheritance - receives. The old woman, on the other hand, is amazed when a robot emerges from her uncle Jeremiah's wooden box. Using his machine, von Housen can give commands to his robot from afar and control it. The robot then packs Mother Riley in a sack, stops a drunk driver on the street and lets him take him away. Eventually the robot gets behind the wheel and dumps the drunk car owner somewhere in the city. When Mother Riley arrives at von Housen's property, she is at first intimidated by the man's sinister presence, but is finally happy to be invited to linger as his guest.
The next day the old woman begins to make herself useful and runs through Housens' property with a feather duster. In the process, she comes across several mummies. When one of these people comes out of the wrapping - it's the kidnapped Julia - Mother Riley is scared to death and jumps out the window into the open. At the local police station, the hysterical old woman who claims to have discovered the "vampire" she was looking for is not believed and is believed to be drunk. While von Housen interrogates Julia to find out where she has kept a certain map of a uranium mine in her possession, her fiancé is able to free himself from his captivity. But he is knocked down by Mother Riley, who has returned to the property, because she thinks he is one of Housen's henchmen. Soon there is a wild brawl in the house in which everyone temporarily knocks out the other.
Von Housen learns from Julia Loretti, who is still in a trance, that the uranium mine map is still on the ship with which the young woman recently arrived. Mother Riley and her confidante, the cook Tilly, can overhear everything from hiding. While von Housen is devilishly trying to kill Julia as an annoying confidante, the anxious Mrs. Riley confronts the terrifying robot. She can bring him down and causes a short circuit in the tin creature. Then she saves Julia at the last second. Meanwhile, von Housen and his men are on their way to the ship to get hold of the map. Tilly has meanwhile been able to convince the police that von Housen is the internationally sought-after "vampire". Mother Riley von Housen chases after her by vintage car, bicycle and moped. He and his people are rummaging through the ship's safe. The police approach and there is a wild shooting on board. Some of the villains die, von Housen is arrested with an empty revolver.
Production notes
Mother Riley Meets the Vampire premiered in July 1952 and was Lugosi's first film in a four-year hiatus. The black and white strip, which was produced very cheaply, was never shown in Germany. It was Lugosi's last of three British productions. He received a fee of $ 5,000, which he urgently needed to finance his trip home from England to the USA. Lugosi had been to the British Isles for a "Dracula" theater tour in the early 1950s, but it flopped.
The character Old Mother Riley is a fictional character presented in variety shows (so-called music halls), radio broadcasts and films, always embodied by the British comedian Arthur Lucan. Since 1936 this figure, created as a “typical” Irish laundry and cleaning lady, has also been featured in a film series. Mother Riley Meets the Vampire was the 17th and last film about this old maid. Despite Lugosi's involvement, the film was not a box office hit and was only shown in the United States in 1963.
Bernard Robinson , who was to design the film structures for the central hammer films in the 1960s , also worked as a production designer for this horror story.
Reviews
The British criticism was consistently ungracious:
"Stupid, humourless and repulsive."
Leonard Maltin called the flick an "Overbearing Vampire satire".
Halliwell's Film Guide found: "Childish farce".
Web links
- Mother Riley Meets the Vampire in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Translation: Stupid, humorless and repulsive
- ^ Movie & Video Guide , 1996 edition, p. 1404. Translation: Presumptuous Vampire Satire.
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide , Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 697. Translation: Childish Farce