Mother Riley Meets The Vampire
Mother Riley Meets The Vampire (74 minutes)
Export title: Vampire Over London
US re-release title: My Son, The Vampire
Filmed from October to December, 1951 on location and at Nettlefold Studio
Released August 18, 1952 – Certificate “U”
Produced and Directed by John Gilling for Renown Pictures
Associate Producer: Stanley Couzins
Assistant Director: Denis O’Dell
Original story and screenplay by Val Valentine
Cinematography by Stan Pavey
Camera Operator: Dudley Lovel
Edited by Len Trumm
Music composed & conducted by Lindo Southworth
Music played by Fernwood Studio Orchestra
Art Director: Bernard Robinson
Sound Recordist: W.H. Lindop
Make-up: Eric Carter
Casting Director: Maude Spector
Hair Stylist: Betty Lee
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From the left: Unknown, director John Gilling, unknown, Richard Gordon, producer George Minter, unknown, Arthur Lucan, cameraman Stan Pavey (behind Lucan), and Bela on the set
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Cast
Arthur Lucan – Mother Riley
Bela Lugosi – The Vampire (Von Housen)
Dora Bryan – Tilly
Richard Wattis – Police Constable Freddie
Philip Leaver - Anton Daschomb
Judith Furse – Freda
Maria Mercedes – Julia Loretti
Roderick Lovell – Douglas
David Hurst – Mugsy
Hattie Jacques – Mrs. Jenks
Dandy Nichols – Mrs. Mott
Cyril Smith – Higgins
Ian Wilson – Hitchcock
Graham Moffat – Yokel
Charles Lloyd-Pack – Sir Joshua Bing
Arthur Brander – Van Driver
Peter Bathurst – BBC Announcer
George Benson – Sergeant
David Hannaford – Nasty Boy
Bill Shine – Drunk
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Kinematography Weekly, August 9, 1951
AT THE STUDIOS
“Mother Riley” at Nettlefold
RENOWN’S next production at Nettlefold will be “Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire,” and the stars will be Arthur Lucan and Bela Lugosi. It is expected that shooting will start in September, but no director has been appointed yet.
In the meanwhile preparations are going forward for “Pickwick Papers,” with the hope that it will get on the floor in January or February. Noel Langley is writing the screenplay.
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The Cinema News And Property Gazette, August 22, 1951
page 9
Had a short pleasant talk here with George Minter, head of Renown Pictures, who is in New York to make a releasing deal for “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” and “A Christmas Carol.” Relaxing in an air-conditioned room at the Sherry-Netherlands while the rest of New York was sweltering under a blanket of hot moist air, Mr. Minter – immaculate in grey suit and grey tie – spoke of his plans. He was going to do another picture with Alistair Sim, he said, and would put “Vampire Over London,” with Bela Lugosi, before the cameras on October 29.
page 23
Minter’s Next
GEORGE MINTER flew in from New York yesterday enthusiastic about the success of his deals for “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” and “Scrooge” in the Western Hemisphere (reported elsewhere in this issue) and the keen interest shown in his forthcoming “Pickwick Papers” which may be filmed in Technicolor in the New Year.
Meanwhile, George is planning to make another film starring Alistair Sim some time between now and the end of the year. The subject, as yet untitled, is being specially written by Noel Langley.
Which should spell a busy time for the Renown set-up because they are due to start production in October at Nettlefold’s on “Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire,” starring Arthur Lucan and Bela Lugosi. It will be the first Mother Riley subject to be made with an eye on the American market where it is to be titled “Vampire Over London.”
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Richard Gordon, Bela and George Minter pose on the set
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Kinematography Weekly, September 13, 1951
AT THE STUDIOS
Nettlefold Full
Another studio that is not suffering from empty stages is Nettlefold, where Coronado’s “Saturday Island” is well under way, and Raymond Stross’s “Tall Headlines” is due back next week after a fortnight on location locally and in Brighton.
Next in will be Renown’s “Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire,” and Nettlefold Films has a production scheduled by Ernest G. Roy for December. Which of two scripts will be chosen has not yet been decided.
The “Saturday Island” unit had plenty of excitement during its first week, when part a ship built in the studio was “blown up.” Members of Jock Easton’s stunt team were used for the really strenuous moments.
Susan Storer has been appointed studio Press representative of the Raymond Stross production, “The Tall Headlines.”
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Bela and Richard Gordon pose for the publicity department
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London Evening News, September 15, 1951
IT’S THAT VAMPIRE AGAIN
by Jympson Harman
“Old Mother Riley” is making the social grade. Some time ago, Arthur Lucan was given a lot more money to spend on his films. This has made them even more popular at the box-office.
For the first time Kitty McShane will not be in the film. Frightened of vampires?
Now the old lady is to have a Hollywood star for team-mate. None other than the fearsome Bela Lugosi! “Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire” is the title. They begin to haunt each other next month.
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The Sydney Morning Herald, September 27, 1951
STUDIO GOSSIP
HORROR with hilarity will be the keynote of Bela Lugosi’s next picture. It is being made in England, where Lugosi has been touring with the stage version of “Dracula.” Co-starring with Lugosi will be Arthur Lucan, little known outside Britain, but a great favourite there on scree, stage, and radio for his characterisation of a cantankerous Irishwoman, “Old Mother Riley.”
The picture will have two titles – Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire” for British audiences; “The Vampire Over London” for other countries, including Australia.
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Kinematography Weekly, November 1, 1951
AT THE STUDIOS
At Nettlefold
“Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire,” starring Arthur Lucan and Bela (“Dracula”) Lugosi, went into production at Nettlefold on Monday.
This Renown comedy is being directed by John Gilling from a screenplay by Val Valentine. The cast includes Dora Byran, Judith Furse and Hattie Jacques.
Production manager is Stanley Couzins; cameraman is Stan Pavey, and Denis O’Dell is first assistant.
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Richard Gordon and Bela between takes
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Kinematography Weekly, December 13, 1951
AT THE STUDIOS
Renown Plans
Five pictures are scheduled for production in 1952 on the Renown programme, although it is not expected that more than three of them will be delivered during that period. One Technicolor subject will be delivered and another started during the year, but the subjects are not settled.
Properties in preparation include Charles Dickens’s “Pickwick Papers,” George Du Mauriers’s ”Trilby,” Sheridan’s “School for Scandal,” Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair,” and “Love of the Foolish Angel,” a story by Helen Beauclerk. Screen plays will be by Noel Langley.
Another Mother Riley is also scheduled. “Mother Riley’s Trip to Mars,” which will be a broad comedy satire on the present atom bomb experiments and rocket trips to the moon.
Also in preparation are two horror pictures, for which negotiations are proceeding to star Boris Karloff in one and Bela Lugosi in the other. These last three subjects will be in black and white.
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Kinematography Weekly, December 13, 1951
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The Daily Film Renter, December 17, 1951
MORE CLASSICS FOR FILMIG BY RENOWN
An extension of George Minter’s policy of filming classic works with the support of American finance and stars is announced by Renown Pictures.
Of eight subjects scheduled for forthcoming production, four will be classic stories which Minter plans to make in colour.
They include “Pickwick Papers,” adapted for the screen by Noel Langley from the Charles Dickens book; “Trilby,” based on George Du Mauriers’s novel; Richard Sheridan’s “School for Scandal,” and Makepeace Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair.”
At the same time, Mr. Minter will continue to produce his “Mother Riley” comedies, the latest of which, “Mother Riley Meets the Vampire,” starring Arthur Lucan and Bela Lugosi, will shortly be on release.
There will also be two horror subjects on the new Renown schedule, one of which will star Boris Karloff and the other Bela Lugosi.
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Bela and Richard Gordon pose for the publicity department
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Today’s Cinema, June 26, 1952
Exuberant story of how Mother Riley gets caught up with maniacal scientist trying to get procession of map of uranium deposit. As in other films of the series, production relies primarily on Arthur Lucan’s celebrated dame act with its well-tried slapstick, teamed in this case with the amusing melodramatics of Bela Lugosi. Comedy is largely a matter of Mother Riley’s preposterous antics in scientist’s sinister house, complete with secret passages, sliding panels and towering robot…Reliable entertainment for Mother Riley fans.
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A publicity photo issued during the filming of Mother Riley Meets The Vampire
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Picturegoer, August 16, 1952
Mother Riley Meets The Vampire
Now that Abbott and Costello have Met The Ghosts, it looks as though all the other slapstick comedians are queueing up to have a go. But if we’re in for a comedy-thriller cycle, let’s hope that those to come are more efficiently put together than this lumbering collection of badly timed chestnuts.
True,Arthur Lucan is in vigorous form, and Bela Lugosi gives one of his liveliest performances, but the script defeats them both.
The most irritating aspect of the film is that it wastes so many talented stage players, such as Dora Bryan, Richard Wattis and Judith Furse. In these surroundings they look incompetent, which assuredly they are not. R.J.L.H
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Bath Weekly Chronicle and Herald, 1952
The best, and funniest, Mother Riley comedy will also be shown. It is “Mother Riley Meets the Vampire,” and it teams for the first time Arthur Lucan and Bela Lugosi. When these two get together the result is one of the most hilarious comedies seen for a long time. Showing at the Forum Cinema and Cafe.
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Upper Hutt Leader (New Zealand), March 31, 1955
The Mayfair Cinema
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A rare portrait of Arthur Lucan out of his Mother Riley costume.
He prefered to be the old washerwoman when he stepped into the
spotlight so that he could enjoy the freedom of anonymity in his daily life.
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Bela interviewed aboard the Queen Elizabeth on his arrival in New York on December 11th, 1951, by Jack Mangan for the TV show Ship’s Reporter. Bela talks about the British tour of Dracula and Mother Riley Meets The Vampire (referred to as Vampire Over London, the original American title).
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Posters
UK poster adapted for the American market
Export poster
Belgian poster
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American lobby cards
Bela and Maria Mercedes
Arthur Lucan and Bela
Bela and Ian Wilson
Arthur Lucan and cast
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Stills
Bela and Artur Lucan
Bela
Arthur Lucan and Bela
Bela and Ian Wilson
Bela and Maria Mercedes
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The Robot
After filming, the costume was displayed in the foyer of a Birmingham cinema. It later spent over twenty years in a private collection in England before being auctioned, minus its glass dome, at Bonhams of London in December, 2010, when it sold for £1,680.
It then found its way to California, where, with a new glass dome, it was auctioned in May, 2011, but failed to sell.
Arthur Lucan menaced by the robot.
Bela, Judith Furse, Ian Wilson and David Hurst admire the robot.
Arthur Lucan inspects the robot
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US trailer for My Son the Vampire
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American Rerelease Screen Title
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Allan Sherman’s My Son, The Vampire B/W I Can’t Dance (5419)
Released in the UK in 1964 by Warner Bros.
(Songwriters: MEYERS, SHERMAN)
Blood!
Blood!
My son, the vampire
He’ll make you a wreck
Every time he kisses you,
there’ll be two holes in your neck
Blood!
Blood!
My son, the vampire
He will leave you pale
All he does is drink your blood
’cause he don’t like ginger ale
When they see him, people scream and they yell.. (AAUGH!)
And they scream and yell ’cause they’re scared as heck that he’ll say…
Blood!
Blood!
My son, the vampire
He’s a total loss
And if you should meet with him,
do not drink or eat with him
Run if he takes out his dental floss
‘Cause my son, the vampire, ain’t collecting it for the Red Cross!
He wants…
Blood!
He needs…
Blood!
He drinks…
Blood!
(spoken)
Doesn’t everybody?
Have a glass!
It’s delicious!
Yum yum!
It’s…
Blood!
Allan Sherman pictured with John F. Kennedy, who unwittingly increased Sherman’s popularity and record sales when spotted singing his then current single, Sarah Jackman, in a hotel lobby in 1962.
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Super 8
