This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

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.

Just terrible. It's about a mad scientist named Von Housen (Bela Lugosi) who wants world domination. He has to battle with old Mrs. Riley (Arthur Lucan) and somehow a stupid robot is thrown in.I caught this on Saturday afternoon TV back in the 1970s. I was still in grammar school back then and (even at that young age) I found it stupid and painfully unfunny. I don't think I even smiled once. The slapstick was tired and Lucan was incredibly annoying. At one point the movie comes to a screeching halt so he/she can sing a song! The song is dreadful--enough to make you want to cut off your ears. Lugosi is the only thing that makes this bearable. He was very ill at the time (you can tell) but he gives this his all. Despite the lousy script he manages to put his lines over. Still this is a stupid and unfunny film that's best left forgotten.

I couldn't believe it when I heard the above saying from Lucan's lips as he thanked a woman. Though the film hardly operates on the same level as Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, it passes an hour or two quite amiably. Bela is clearly happy to be back in front of a film camera for the first time in years - even a low budget British one - and he effortlessly conveys his old authority and a sense of fun - he comes across as an enjoyably hammy British version of a Batman TV Series supervillain. Lucan is relatively restrained in this outing compared to past ones. The splendid book VAMPIRE OVER London; BELA LUGOSI IN Britain indicates his personal troubles over his estranged partner Kitty Mcshane, and one can only wonder if this is the reason why. The duo's stage act usually climaxed in plate throwing and this is compensated for by a madcap crockery-crashing slapstick sequence with Bela's henchmen. Dora Bryan is a more than adequate foil for Lucan.Editing necessary for MY SON THE VAMPIRE means we lose Lucan's one musical number early on in the film. Also, the romance between the kidnapped Loretti and her Naval officer is underplayed to say the least - he keeps getting bonked on the head by various characters. Graham Moffat is also missing from the print. The ending is curious in that we contrast Riley's madcap race to stop the Vampire enduring various crashes and appropriated forms of transport on the way while Von Houson is actually seen gunning down two constables - a bit strong for a juvenile comedy.The immediate postwar period was a time of apprenticeship for celebrated British comedy stars like the Goons and Tony Hancock who were learning and honing their trade upon being demobbed from the army. By 1951, they were ready to take on the entertainment establishment and sweep aside the old stars like Lucan - in much the same way the Beatles and their ilk were ready in 1963 to change the face of the British music industry. The brief resurgence of popularity Lucan and Mcshane enjoyed prior to this film proved to be a last fling at glory. A whole new wave of innovative British comedy was ready to sweep them aside. Lucan was more truthful than he knew when - at the climax of this film - he sputters "This is the end!" Both Lucan and Lugosi were enjoying a last stab at greatness in an age where they were already anachronisms.

Yes this really is something of a clinker. A real poverty row, "quota quickie" that is really only of interest because of the bizarre teaming of British variety veteran Arthur Lucan (Old Mother Riley) and horror movie icon Bela Lugosi. Both are well past their prime and the knowledge that poor old Bela was quite ill at the time makes the whole thing quite a melancholy experience. However that being said there is a kind of earthy British working class exuberance to be found in some of the comedy. Lucan and his veteran writer Valentine,knew his audience and their preoccupations as exemplified in the early scenes in Mother Riley's corner shop. Jokes about post war rationing, living on "tick" (a slang term for credit Mr and Mrs America)etc. would've been fairly well received. (But the actual set for the shop is tawdry and really displays the cheapness of the budget). Still Lugosi does seem to enjoy the Vaudeville banter with Lucan. In Lucan's case this was probably more a matter of sheer professionalism rather than genuine enthusiasm as at the time he was, by all accounts, a deeply unhappy man due to an acrimonious split from his wife and former stage partner Kitty Mc Shane. The U.S. version starts incongruously with a song by Allen Sherman (I'll bet he never even saw the film)and some sketchy cartoon graphics that simply do not fit in with the narrative that follows. It's all a bit of a rag bag of second hand, slightly misunderstood horror movie cliché's (vampires, mad scientists, robots etc.)recycled in a half hearted kind of way but not totally without interest. Although of more interest to ageing Brits, like myself than to anyone else, I suspect. Only buy a copy if it's really cheap. It's a one screening curio. You'd have to be a serious masochist or else have no life to really want to see it more than once.