Votez pour grand-mère Riley

Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane toured the variety halls of pre-war Britain in a comedy act called "Come Over", in which Lucan (in drag) played an Irish washerwoman named Old Mother Riley, while McShane (Lucan's real-life wife) played Mother Riley's daughter Kitty. They parlayed these roles into a series of films, very popular in 1930s Britain and still shown today on bank-holiday television. Only the last film in the series ("Mother Riley Meets the Vampire", minus McShane) had played widely in America, due to the casting of Bela Lugosi as the villain.

The Old Mother Riley films aren't very funny. Lucan is totally unbelievable as a woman, and he speaks all his lines in a high-pitched falsetto which sounds neither female nor Irish. Kitty Riley (played by McShane) is supposed to be the most beautiful girl in town, so gorgeous that all the young men are always courting her. Not to be ungallant, but Kitty McShane isn't very pretty, and she's got enough nose for two Streisands. Whenever Old Mother Riley gets in trouble, she shouts her peculiar catchphrase "Mrs Ginocchio, S.O.S.!" (Mrs Ginocchio is Mother Riley's neighbour, often mentioned but never seen, like Jimmy Durante's "Mrs Calabash".)

"Old Mother Riley, M.P." is one of the better Lucan films, which isn't saying much. Mother Riley runs afoul of her local council, so she campaigns to get herself elected to Parliament. Torin Thatcher gives a good performance (too good for this film) as Kitty's sailor boyfriend who's planning to marry her.

There were weird touches of surrealism in all the Mother Riley films. The best scene in this movie occurs during Mother Riley's election campaign, when she calls on a household in her district. The house looks normal, but the husband and wife who live here are midgets. Then their son comes to the door, and he's nearly seven feet high.

American viewers might be surprised to notice an item in the credits of this movie: it was distributed by 'Butcher's Film Service'. A film service for meat-choppers? This corporate name was the producer's joke: "butcher's hook" is Cockney rhyming slang for "have a look". The producer hoped that cinema audiences would want to "have a butcher's" (look) at this movie. Some hope!

I'll give 2 points out of 10 to "Old Mother Riley, M.P."

Good quality transfer to DVD. This is one of the best in the series, with a cracking script, showing off Arthur Lucan's over the top washerwoman, Old Mother Riley character to it's best. The plot has Lucan getting he sack from the laundry after a quarrel with its owner and perspective candidate for Parliament.Riley finds out that he wishes to pull down their homes and the local pub and decides to stand for Parliament herself.The social points of the haves and the have-nots are as fresh today as it was in the year of release 1939.Riley is appointed Minister of Strange Affairs,(there should be one of those!) and in a stupid ending to a good farce, forces an Emperor of a tin pot country called Rocavia to cough up a dept of £50,000,000 owing to Britain. Very topical you see. This also benefits with Kitty Mcshane, his real wife at the time, being sidelined from much of the plot. Third billed and looking like some 1950s beefcake actor is Brit Torin Thatcher,later to be a brilliant villain in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958).Well worth a look.

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...

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.