One for the Bela Lugosi (or Mother Riley) completists,
Mother Riley meets the Vampire is a strange hybrid of English Music Hall and
American low budget mad scientist movies.
Arthur Lucan had been playing Mother Riley, an Irish washer
woman who gets herself into assorted scrapes and adventures, on stage and
screen since the 1930s, but, possibly due to the parochial nature of the
character, the films had not really caught on internationally had much success
outside of the UK. Enter Bela Lugosi, who had travelled to the UK for a stage
version of Dracula that flopped, leaving him penniless and desperately needing
money to get back to the US. Producer George Minter must have seen him, even in
the twilight of his career, as a big enough name to drum up some business at
the American box office.
The sinister Von Housen (Lugosi) has two notable character
traits: he is hellbent on seeks dominating the world with an army of 50,000
radar-controlled nuclear-powered robots. He also reckons he's a vampire and has
several young women abducted, including one who has a map to a uranium mine
that he needs for his robot army. Granted, his army is currently 49,999 short,
and to make matters worse, his only functioning robot has been shipped to
Mother Riley's store by mistake.
The result is two different film styles that don't really
gel together, but it's more entertaining than not. Lugosi seems to be enjoying
himself, and, as always, is great fun to watch. Lucan brings a sense of
knockabout slapstick and some well delivered occasional salty quips ("May
the saints shower you with sailors on shore leave!"), but his constantly
shrill delivery means a little goes a long way. Modern audiences may mostly be
reminded of comedy character Arthur Atkinson from the Fast Show, with
comparable baffling catchphrases and contemporary references.
