For those who've enjoyed Mr. Lobo's Cinema Insomnia: Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla, there's a Sally the Zombie Cheerleader's School of Horror that churns the same charm: Renown Pictures' Vampire Over London, aka Mother Riley Meets the Vampire, aka My Son the Vampire (the latter label being an off-the-cuff play upon Allen Sherman's novelty tune, "My Son the Folk Singer," which he reworked for the 1952 movie's 1963 re-release).
Vampire Over London stands as an accidental lead-in to Edward D. Wood's Bride of the Monster, with Lugosi portraying a mad scientist with conquest on his mind, but in director John Gilling's feature, scripted by Val Valentine and horror producer Richard Gordon, he's also a vampire (well, maybe just a chap who believes himself to be, though I do take his claim as confirmation). I guess this makes him a forerunner of sorts to Al Lewis' Grandpa of The Munsters.
The movie holds further distinction by being the final, Mother Riley movie, with the cherished character again enacted by the amiable Arthur Lucan, whose "drag" act delighted British audiences throughout the 1940s and early 1950s.
The Lugosi/Lucan team-up is heavy on hijinks, as the former's Professor Von Housen prepares to unleash a robot army upon the world and sets his lumbering prototype to trail the jittery Riley.
Sally (joined by her sardonic SkeleKat) highlights the production and shares affectionate insights on Lucan's rise as a topliner and Lugosi's captivating career, including his British stage tour of Dracula, conducted prior to the Riley effort.
Indeed, if one appreciates the spooky crossovers of Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Martin & Lewis and the Bowery Boys, Sally's Vampire Over London tribute will not only tickle the funny bone, but invigorate the jugular.🧛
Join the vampiric/robotic/motherly jubilation at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vby6K9ffhRo&t=1165s
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