Bad Bela Lugosi

I'm not sure how our beloved Head Razz let this slip by our attention, but I am sitting here watching My Son The Vampire (released in the UK as Mother Riley Meets The Vampire), on TCM. It was one of several cheap British comedies featuring Arthur Lucan in drag as "Old Mother Riley" (probably not related to Fox Noise Network blowhard Bill O'Reilly). The film also stars Bela Lugosi playing, of all things, a vampire! Who'd have thunk it?

The primary point of interest is that the movie was released in 1952, and by that point, just about everyone assumed that Lugosi's career had hit rock bottom. But later that same year, he started doing movies for some guy named Ed Wood jr. Neither was ever heard from again.  (yeah, right)

This film was directed by John Gilling, a name mostly forgotten now, but he wrote and directed enough bad movies that his name should stand proudly alongside the likes of Wood and Corman. Heck, this guy wrote Trog!

Be prepared for a shock...the whole movie is about the old lady in drag, and there was an entire series of the "old Mother Riley" movies. (If nothing else, don't miss the chase scene at the end.)

Generally speaking, I'm a fan of British comedy, but the very thought that there could be a Mother Riley film festival going on somewhere in jolly old England is almost enough to make one wish somebody would nuke the place. There should probably be an entire Mother Riley wing in the future Golden Razzie Hall of Shame.

In the event that anyone's curiousity has been aroused, provoked or whatever the correct term may be, here is a website devoted to Arthur Lucan and his character, Old Mother Riley...proving that somewhere, someone has too much time on their hands.

http://www.peterwilkinson.karoo.net/omr.htm

Bela was back on TCM today with a mid-40's vintage B flick, Zombies on Broadway. This may be the ultimate back-handed compliment, but this was actually among Bela's better performances.

The stars of the film were Wally Brown and Alan Carney, who were RKO's answer to Abbot and Costello or Bing and Bob. They are largely forgotten for for a pretty good reason, nonetheless, this was probably their best film.  Watching it is kind of a hoot especially for those of us who appreciate Hollywood at it's low rent finest or at least quirkiest. 

Response from Head RAZZberry: ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY has alwaze been One of My Berry Favorite Bad Movie Titles -- Unfortunately, the film  itself is utterly mediocre. An RKO knock-off of Universal's Abbott & Costello monster comedies, it manages to be neither wonderfully bad nor even fun in any appreciable way -- Such a waste of a wonderfully awful title! 

Aaah yes, Bride of the Monster. If I remember correctly, that is also the one with the cop who walks around with a parakeet on his finger. The film ends with a quote that magnificently summarizes the film career of Ed Wood:

He tampered in the domain of God! 

Response from Head RAZZberry: BRIDE is also the one where Wood's talent-free leading lady just happened to be the current girlfriend of Ed's penny-pinching financial backer. Significantly, Loretta King (IMDb LINK) rarely worked again.

For your reading pleasure, here are additional links to the IMDB page and the Rotten Tomatoes page for BRIDE, which will be listed this Monday as our choice for Best Bad Movie on Basic Cable This Weak...

Mitchell and Petrillo...the poor man's Martin and Lewis. There is one thing you have to say about Bela Lugosi...no actor in history made so many otherwise unwatchable movies worth seeing.