''Old Mother Riley, MP'' is a 1939 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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

, which forms part of the

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 of films. The film's plot centres on Old Mother Riley standing for election to the House of Commons.

Plot summary

Concerning Old Mother Riley's fight against her landlord, and as a means of defeating a corrupt politician intent on demolishing her street and the local pub along with it, Mother Riley taking to the

soapbox A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment ...

. Local crowds cheer her on, and she finds herself elected to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, and eventually promoted to

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

for Strange Affairs.

Cast

*Old Mother Riley -

*Kitty Riley -

*Jack Nelson -

Torin Thatcher Torin Herbert Erskine Thatcher (15 January 1905 – 4 March 1981) was a British actor who was noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains. Personal life Thatcher was born 15 January 1905 in Bombay, British India, to British parents, Tor ...

*Henry Wicker -

Henry Longhurst Henry Carpenter Longhurst CBE (18 March 1909 – 21 July 1978) was a British golf writer and commentator. For 45 years, he was golfing correspondent of ''The Sunday Times''. During World War II, Longhurst was also Member of Parliament (MP) for ...

*Archie - Patrick Ludlow *Emperor of Rocavia -

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 ...

*Littleman - Rex Alderman *The Supervisor - Cynthia Stock *Brownlow - Kenneth Henry

Critical reception

*Mary Haberstroh writes in Britmovie, "“Old Mother Riley, MP” synthesizes slapstick comedy with malapropisms and everything in between to create one of the best

films...Lucan is credible as Old Mother Riley wanting to seek social equality for the poor and unemployed, and

, and Henry B. Longhurst turn in stellar performances in this comedy. The story itself is well written and continuous without any unexplained gaps in the plot, making it easy for the viewer to follow...The characters in the film could very well be real life figures who are trying to survive during the time of

the Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank an ...

. “Old Mother Riley, MP” is a film that is sure to please anyone who appreciates classic

British comedy In film, television, and radio, British comedy has produced some of the most renowned characters in the world. In it, satire is one of the features of British comedy. Radio comedy in Britain has been almost exclusively hosted on the BBC. History ...

." *In britishpictures.com, David Absalom writes, "by any reasonable definition, this is not a good film. But the character (Old Mother Riley) is so watchable, so wonderfully manic, you enjoy the film despite its faults." *''

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, "graced with an insane plot...Nonsensical but full of laughs."

External links

References

1939 films 1939 comedy films 1930s British films 1930s English-language films 1930s political comedy films British black-and-white films British political comedy films English-language political comedy films Films about elections Films directed by Oswald Mitchell Films scored by Percival Mackey Films set in England Films set in London Old Mother Riley films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub