Uriah43 Dull and Humorless This movie begins with a woman by the name of "Julia Loretti" (Maria Mercedes) being kidnapped by agents working for a man named "Von Housen" (Bela Lugosi) who goes by pseudonym of "the Vampire" and has everyone convinced that he is an actual vampire. As it turns out, however, although he sleeps in a coffin Von Housen is actually an inventor who is working on a plan to build 50,000 robots so that he can take over the world. To that end, he has abducted Julia because she knows where a secret chart is kept which identifies the location of a rich deposit of uranium that he desperately needs. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned as the prototype of the robot is accidentally sent to the wrong address which forces him to seize an old lady by the name of "Mrs. Riley" (Arthur Lucan) before she has a chance to alert the authorities. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that prior to watching this movie I had no idea that it was one of a series of films focused exclusively on the character of Mrs. Riley. Be that as it may, I honestly didn't care too much for this particular film due in large part because the slapstick humor was so incredibly dull and ineffective. It just wasn't a good movie. That being said, I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Rainey Dawn My Son the Vampire AKA Vampire Over London (1952) or "Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire" (original title).This is a cute comedy-horror film. We have Bela Lugosi as "the vampire" Von Housen, Arthur Lucan in drag as Mother Mrs. O'Riley and a robot controlled by "the vampire" Von Housen trying to take over the world. Mrs. O'Riley in her comical ways will try to help stop the vampire from world domination. What more do you want from a zany comedy?! Mrs. O'Riley has to give us a song and dance - which is kinda cute but certainly not the highlight of the film - I personally think the highlight is Lugosi and the robot - but that is my taste.A fun film overall.6/10

DarthVoorhees 'Vampire Over London' is a horrible film with one redeeming quality which is of course Bela Lugosi and yet even the legendary Bela is really not enough to give this a view. 'Vampire Over London' is worse than any collaboration Lugosi made with Ed Wood. In fact I would even go so far as to say that Ed Wood is dignified and deep in the title drag role in 'Glen or Glenda' in comparison to Arthur Lucan's Old Mother Riley. Lucan's Old Mother Riley is the kind of character that is like torture to watch. He is Jar Jar Binks/Steve Urkel caliber annoying. I'd rather watch someone scratch a chalk board for an hour than to sit through this film again. The fact that this type of character was never funny to begin with doesn't stop Lucan from indulging in every tired cliché. The film assumes it's audience is incredibly stupid but I don't think even stupid people would find Lucan funny. Lugosi is good but he is given a horrendous script and is not in the film all that much. Lugosi wants to explore new territory here and he kind of plays the character more for laughs but none of the material is very funny. And since this is Lucan's film, Lugosi is never given a chance to do anything except set up Lucan's horrible humor. In a career full of highs and lows this might be rock bottom for this talented man. He didn't deserve this.

ayupodgey 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.