Old Mother Riley M.P.

Old Mother Riley MP is a daft but an enjoyable film with an over the top and manic performance by Arthur Lucan, who seems to be all arm movements and some innuendo as well.

Old Mother Riley gets sack from her job as a washer woman in a laundry after a quarrel with the laundry owner. When the owner stands for Parliament and plans to pull down the houses on her street, Old Mother Riley also decides to stand as well, leading to some dirty tricks by his rival.

When she is elected to Parliament, Old Mother Riley fights for social justice and becomes a Minister in the department of Strange Affairs where she pursues a European country that owes Britain some money.

There is an element of farce in this film and also surrealism when Old Mother Riley knocks on a door while canvassing, two kids play the husband and wife of the household with an overgrown man playing their child.

Mrs Brown from the BBC sitcom is really the modern version of Old Mother Riley with more swearing and smuttiness.

Another winner for the great variety act of Old Mother Riley and Kitty. How can any body judge this great variety act if they are not aware of the bill topping pull they had both on stage and in the series of movies they made,which are collectors items. This heap of fun is when the irish washer woman stands as an M.P. after getting the sack from the irish wash house where she works. every movement and line is a treasure, if you have watched this and did not think it funny watch again and listen to every word and watch the perfect timed action.You will soon want more. See how mother Riley, takes on the other M.P.'s and becomes the P.M. good clean fun for both kids and adults, if only it was possible to see all the series as half the films are missing. At least this one is saved.

Old Mother Riley loses her job as a washer woman, after a disagreement with the management, she finds herself contesting a seat at Westminster, fighting her campaign on a mandate of workers rights.

One of those films that you need to be in the mood for, and if you are, you'll chuckle the whole way through. It's quintessential British humour, with Mother Riley as the underdog, and her former employer playing the villain.

A couple of amusing scenes, and a few interesting moments. Almost a hundred years on, and we're still talking about social injustices, especially at the work place.

Arthur Lucanas always is wonderfully enthusiastic as Mother Riley, the performance is so over the top, it makes Mrs Brown look subtle.

That baby did not look happy during the rally, and you can understand why.

6/10.

The fantasy of telling one's boss where they can stick their job is obviously a perennial since it pops up again in this still timely piece of social history.

One wonders what the seven minutes cut on reissue during the war contained, since it already contains plenty of home truths about life in thirties Britain where Mother Riley's boss is also her landlord (whose "workers are slaves and his tenants will soon be outcasts"), which funds his political ambitions.

The familiar argument of public amenities versus foreign aid was obviously also as hot a topic eighty years ago as it is now...

F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre is wrong to suggest that the name Butcher's Film Service was a play on the Cockney rhyming slang phrase "butcher's hook." Butcher's Films was one of the earliest and longest-surviving British film production companies and distributors, founded by William Butcher and later taken over by his sons William and Fred. Beginning as a chemist in 1860, William Senior progressed to the manufacture of photographic goods, then lantern slides. He died 1904. His sons began film distribution around 1909. The last Butcher's release was Fantasm in 1978. Many Butcher's films are now on DVD on the Renown label. I'm writing about the fascinating history of Butcher's Films in the summer issue of "The Veteran". Postscript 2018: By the time I wrote the above review F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre had been dead for nearly a year. It's probable that his claims to have seen many lost films were untrue. Much of what he says in his IMDb reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt. He was, however, a prolific and talented sci fi writer.