''Old Mother Riley's Ghosts'' is a 1941 British

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by John Baxter and starring

Arthur Lucan Arthur Lucan (born Arthur Towle; 16 September 1885 – 17 May 1954) was an English actor who performed the drag act Old Mother Riley on stage, radio and screen, with a series of comedy films from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Early life ...

Kitty McShane Kathleen "Kitty" McShane (19 May 1897 – 24 March 1964) was an Irish actress, best known as the wife and acting partner of Arthur Lucan, with whom she appeared in a series of ''Old Mother Riley'' stage shows and films from the 1930s to the ...

and John Stuart. It was the 8th in the long-running

Old Mother Riley Old Mother Riley is a fictional character portrayed from about 1934 to 1954 by Arthur Lucan and from 1954 to the 1980s by Roy Rolland as part of a British music hall act. Old Mother Riley (full comedy name: Daphne Bluebell Snowdrop Riley) is a ...

series. Old Mother Riley inherits a castle in Scotland, but it appears to be haunted.

Plot summary

Old Mother Riley inherits a Scottish property, believing it, at first, to be a pub, and makes the journey up north with her daughter, Kitty. They are surprised to find themselves in possession of a haunted castle, though it turns out the ghouls and ghosties are not what they seem. They are in fact an ingenious front for an espionage ring anxious to get their hands on an inventor's plans, and trying to scare intruders away. After vigorous attempts to scare Mother Riley out of her wits, the Irish washerwoman ends up turning the tables on the spies, and terrifying them in return.

Cast

... Mrs. Riley *

... Kitty Riley * John Stuart ... John Cartwright * A. Bromley Davenport ... Warrender *

Dennis Wyndham Dennis Wyndham (15 January 1887 – 19 August 1973) was a South African born stage and film actor. Long based in Britain, he appeared in more than 40 films between 1920 and 1956. He was born in Natal, South Africa. On 23 May 1917, he married El ...

... Jem *

John Laurie John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in scores of feature films with directors including Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier, generally p ...

... McAdam *

Peter Gawthorne Peter Gawthorne (1 September 1884 – 17 March 1962) was an Anglo-Irish actor, probably best known for his roles in the films of Will Hay and other popular British comedians of the 1930s and 1940s. Gawthorne was one of Britain's most called-up ...

... Mr. Cartwright

Critical reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' wrote, "sure to garner a couple of hearty laughs...Some fun "scares" (a knight whose head flies off) help pass the time."

References

External links

* 1941 films 1941 comedy films 1940s British films 1940s English-language films British black-and-white films British comedy films English-language comedy films Films about inheritances Films directed by John Baxter Films scored by Kennedy Russell Films set in castles Films set in London Films shot at British National Studios Old Mother Riley films {{1940s-UK-comedy-film-stub