Old Mother Riley isn't too happy when her store order is mixed up with the delivery of a strange looking robot (think "Lost in Space's" robot as if made by children from a local junk pile) who kidnaps her and brings her to the nefarious grandson of a rumored long dead vampire. Whether or not this mad scientist is a vampire isn't really confirmed although he does sleep in a coffin, supposedly lives off of human blood, and is played by none other than Bela Lugosi. In a part which he played totally whacked out, Lugosi is simply trying too hard to be funny, and even if it is a twist from his other infrequent comedy roles, he seemed to be deeply out of his element. Arthur Lucan, whose mother Riley dominated British Z-grade programmers for well over a decade, certainly doesn't convince me that he's a sweet old lady. Even Lon Chaney and Lionel Barrymore when they dressed up in Whistler's Mother outfits, looked more authentic than Lucan does, which makes me wonder if this is why one of the characters arguing with "her" refers to "her" as a 'faggot'.
Yes, the word 'faggot' is uttered here, and since Lucan doesn't look like either a cigarette or a bundle of sticks, it made me question the motives for it being utilized in the script. Lucan is supposed to be one of those funny granny type characters, a rip off from Hal Roach comedy shorts where grandma got some gusto in her girdle and went after the bad guy with fire and guts. She/he is first seen talking in a sped up cartoon like way while arguing with a customer, and when confronted by the variety of creatures and villains she encounters, is seen with the photography sped up so she/he can look overly feisty. The ending has her on a bicycle then a motorcycle bike she stole from a cop she collided with. Yes, a 1952 movie that goes back to the days of the Keystone Cops, or probably even a Roadrunner/Coyote cartoon with Mother Riley the poor roadrunner and the unsuspecting Lugosi the even more unfortunate coyote.
Then, there's Lugosi's home, which looks like a Swiss chalet but has all sorts of old dark house contraptions including a swinging fireplace, secret spying panels, and of course, Lugosi's laboratory where unsuspecting females, kidnapped by him, are tied down and drugged. He's got an insane giggling assistant, a butch housekeeper and a nurse (Dora Bryan) who seems to suspect that something is doing on, but doesn't quit. Never is there any reason to really suspect that Lugosi is a vampire other than the coffin he sleeps in (just like the much better "The Corpse Vanishes") and that he wears a cape just like Dracula. Mother Riley isn't interesting enough to make me interested in her other films in the series, so if Lugosi had not been in this, I would have most likely skipped it altogether.
Yes, the word 'faggot' is uttered here, and since Lucan doesn't look like either a cigarette or a bundle of sticks, it made me question the motives for it being utilized in the script. Lucan is supposed to be one of those funny granny type characters, a rip off from Hal Roach comedy shorts where grandma got some gusto in her girdle and went after the bad guy with fire and guts. She/he is first seen talking in a sped up cartoon like way while arguing with a customer, and when confronted by the variety of creatures and villains she encounters, is seen with the photography sped up so she/he can look overly feisty. The ending has her on a bicycle then a motorcycle bike she stole from a cop she collided with. Yes, a 1952 movie that goes back to the days of the Keystone Cops, or probably even a Roadrunner/Coyote cartoon with Mother Riley the poor roadrunner and the unsuspecting Lugosi the even more unfortunate coyote.
Then, there's Lugosi's home, which looks like a Swiss chalet but has all sorts of old dark house contraptions including a swinging fireplace, secret spying panels, and of course, Lugosi's laboratory where unsuspecting females, kidnapped by him, are tied down and drugged. He's got an insane giggling assistant, a butch housekeeper and a nurse (Dora Bryan) who seems to suspect that something is doing on, but doesn't quit. Never is there any reason to really suspect that Lugosi is a vampire other than the coffin he sleeps in (just like the much better "The Corpse Vanishes") and that he wears a cape just like Dracula. Mother Riley isn't interesting enough to make me interested in her other films in the series, so if Lugosi had not been in this, I would have most likely skipped it altogether.