"What this movie badly needs," I remarked to a colleague in the preview theatre, "are some nice girls!" And, to my surprise, shortly after, producer Harry Reynolds obliged. Following bright sequences with a girl band, a moving piano and an animated bust, came a delightful PT lesson with Pat Owens and her companions in short shorts, plus some ingenious trick effects (although the best is left for the finale when the laundry is miraculously turned into a railway station)! By the humble standards of this series, the sets are remarkably large. And they are populated by numerous extras too. Alas, the script is worse than usual, with some of the weakest puns ever, although it does offer less scope for Miss McShane (which is a blessing). In fact, her perennial boyfriend, Willer Neal, is simply allowed to disappear -- a quite unaccountable action from a continuity point of view. Presumably his later scenes where he tells Kitty the truth were mercifully left on the cutting-room floor. Even as is, the screenplay, for the most part, just isn't funny; while John Harlow's direction is as dull as his additional scenes and as flat as Jimmy Wilson's photography. Incidentally, once he'd formulated his Old Mother character, Arthur Lucan never appeared on stage without make-up, but he did make one movie, namely "Old Mother Riley's Ghosts" (1941), in which he also played the crook who disguises himself as OMR! Getting back to "Headmistress", Jimmy Wilson's camera operator was Ken Talbot; Douglas Myers was associate producer as well as supervising film editor; production manager was Stanley Couzins; make-up was in the hands of Henry Hayward and Marjorie Green; and Fred Turtle recorded the RCA sound track. Music is billed simply to "The Melachrino Organisation". Grand National state the footage as 6,786 feet (which I calculate is 75 minutes).
6 Reviews
Did they ever untie Winifred?
F Gwynplaine MacIntyre17 April 2004
Warning: Spoilers
'Old Mother Riley Headmistress' (this title has no comma in the opening credits) has a higher budget than most instalments in the 'Old Mother Riley' series. These films starred Arthur Lucan in panto-drag as Irish scrubwoman Daphne Snowdrop Bluebell Riley, and Lucan's wife Kitty McShane as Mother Riley's daughter. Like some other British comedians (George Formby, Frank Randle), Arthur Lucan's films were far more popular in northern Britain than in London and the south. The Mother Riley films were also popular with children, as Lucan's drag routine was (usually) too innocent to raise the spectre of transvestism. 'Old Mother Riley Headmistress' is a bit naughtier than usual for this series, due to the setting ... which places Old Mother Riley in a gymslip among dozens of nubile young ladies.
The Dublin-born Kitty McShane's accent varied wildly from thick brogue to shopgirl Estuarine throughout the series. In 'Headmistress', she settles for a slight Irish lilt. Mother Riley works in a laundry owned by her sister-in-law Jemima Murphy. Kitty Riley is the choir mistress at St Mildred's Seminary for Young Ladies. We see McShane unconvincingly attempting to conduct the (excellent) girls' choir. When she leaves the room, they carry on singing in tempo without her, proving she was never needed. The vicious French instructress Mam'selle Leblanc has contrived to get Kitty sacked ... until Aunt Jemima carks it, bequeathing the laundry to Mother Riley, who mortgages the laundry to buy the seminary and instal herself as headmistress.
I'm a fan of the "St Trinian's" comedies, so I hoped that St Mildred's would be filled with naughty schoolgirls in gymslips. The girls at St Mildred's are all in their teens and wear pretty frocks, not matching uniforms. They all gang up on a girl named Winifred who has a speech impediment. I was annoyed that ALL the schoolgirls (except Winifred) are extremely pretty: how realistic is that? Also, Winifred is played by an attractive girl (Diana Connell) made to *look* unattractive with thick specs and an ugly hairstyle. There's a sequence in which the schoolgirls taunt Winifred while she's bound and blindfolded. I found this rather kinky, yet I was disturbed by it: the audience are clearly meant to *approve* while the pretty girls bully poor Winifred. The tone of the schoolgirl sequences is all very jolly hockey-sticks and Enid Blyton.
All the Mother Riley films have bad direction and poor editing. 'Headmistress' features a sequence in which Mother Riley plays 'The Minstrel Boy' on a piano while a bust (of Shakespeare?) above the piano comes alive and speaks to her. This could have worked if the director had shown us the inanimate bust, and then shown it opening its eyes and speaking. Annoyingly, we see this bust for the very first time *as* it starts speaking, and this is very confusing.
SLIGHT SPOILERS. 'Headmistress' places heavy reliance on undercranking (speeded-up action), which I've never found funny. This is especially dire in a bizarre scene in which Kitty encourages Mother Riley (a man in drag, remember) to twirl in her elaborate new dress. But the jokes are a bit cleverer than usual for this series. When a Latin-speaking lawyer arrives, Mother Riley tells him 'pro bono Pimlico' (a pun on a working-class London neighbourhood). She introduces 'his workshop, the Mayor' whose name is Weston, and he's 'a super mayor' (a pun on the seaside resort Weston-super-Mare). When Mother Riley is embarrassed, she asks: 'Is my Rhode Island Red?' The climactic sequence, in which the seminary catches fire, features an impressive optical wipe that changes shape like a flame. The dialogue establishes that all the girls went home for the hols before the school burns down. (But did they ever untie Winifred?)
Oh, yes. We get that annoying cliche about the worthless piece of property that's suddenly valuable because the railway want to build a line through it. I've seen this cliche in several Yank cowboy movies, but this is the first British movie in which I've encountered it. The cliche makes no sense: if the railway need a particular piece of land, the government would exercise the law of eminent domain to seize the land at less than market value. The people who make money from a new railway line are the people who own the land *next to* (not ON) the rail line, and who get rich by building hotels or restaurants that cater for the rail travellers. Speaking of cliches, we also get that British thick-ear cliche: the gang of Cockney spivs with a toff as their "guv'nor".
None of the 'Mother Riley' films are very funny, but 'Headmistress' is more enjoyable than most because of all those attractive teenage seminary girls, who sing very prettily. No schoolgirl uniforms, worse luck, and only Mother Riley wears a gymslip, but we get to see the lasses briefly in form-fitting P.E. clothes and short-skirted band uniforms. At the very end, there's a clever coup de theatre which changes Mother Riley's laundry into a railway station. I'll rate this series entry 3 points out of 10, which is higher than most of the Mother Riley films deserve.
Recently, I was told by Roy Hudd - a veteran of the old-time English variety halls (vaudeville) - that, when the Old Mother Riley films were being made, Arthur Lucan always arrived at the movie studio in full (female) costume and make-up, and he remained in character until he went home (still in drag). Allegedly, he didn't want anyone to know how he looked out of costume, so that (when he wasn't working) he could visit the local pub or chip shop without being recognised as a celebrity. I don't know if I believe this story, but it does explain why I've never seen a photograph of Arthur Lucan in which he is *not* wearing his Irish scrubwoman disguise!
The Dublin-born Kitty McShane's accent varied wildly from thick brogue to shopgirl Estuarine throughout the series. In 'Headmistress', she settles for a slight Irish lilt. Mother Riley works in a laundry owned by her sister-in-law Jemima Murphy. Kitty Riley is the choir mistress at St Mildred's Seminary for Young Ladies. We see McShane unconvincingly attempting to conduct the (excellent) girls' choir. When she leaves the room, they carry on singing in tempo without her, proving she was never needed. The vicious French instructress Mam'selle Leblanc has contrived to get Kitty sacked ... until Aunt Jemima carks it, bequeathing the laundry to Mother Riley, who mortgages the laundry to buy the seminary and instal herself as headmistress.
I'm a fan of the "St Trinian's" comedies, so I hoped that St Mildred's would be filled with naughty schoolgirls in gymslips. The girls at St Mildred's are all in their teens and wear pretty frocks, not matching uniforms. They all gang up on a girl named Winifred who has a speech impediment. I was annoyed that ALL the schoolgirls (except Winifred) are extremely pretty: how realistic is that? Also, Winifred is played by an attractive girl (Diana Connell) made to *look* unattractive with thick specs and an ugly hairstyle. There's a sequence in which the schoolgirls taunt Winifred while she's bound and blindfolded. I found this rather kinky, yet I was disturbed by it: the audience are clearly meant to *approve* while the pretty girls bully poor Winifred. The tone of the schoolgirl sequences is all very jolly hockey-sticks and Enid Blyton.
All the Mother Riley films have bad direction and poor editing. 'Headmistress' features a sequence in which Mother Riley plays 'The Minstrel Boy' on a piano while a bust (of Shakespeare?) above the piano comes alive and speaks to her. This could have worked if the director had shown us the inanimate bust, and then shown it opening its eyes and speaking. Annoyingly, we see this bust for the very first time *as* it starts speaking, and this is very confusing.
SLIGHT SPOILERS. 'Headmistress' places heavy reliance on undercranking (speeded-up action), which I've never found funny. This is especially dire in a bizarre scene in which Kitty encourages Mother Riley (a man in drag, remember) to twirl in her elaborate new dress. But the jokes are a bit cleverer than usual for this series. When a Latin-speaking lawyer arrives, Mother Riley tells him 'pro bono Pimlico' (a pun on a working-class London neighbourhood). She introduces 'his workshop, the Mayor' whose name is Weston, and he's 'a super mayor' (a pun on the seaside resort Weston-super-Mare). When Mother Riley is embarrassed, she asks: 'Is my Rhode Island Red?' The climactic sequence, in which the seminary catches fire, features an impressive optical wipe that changes shape like a flame. The dialogue establishes that all the girls went home for the hols before the school burns down. (But did they ever untie Winifred?)
Oh, yes. We get that annoying cliche about the worthless piece of property that's suddenly valuable because the railway want to build a line through it. I've seen this cliche in several Yank cowboy movies, but this is the first British movie in which I've encountered it. The cliche makes no sense: if the railway need a particular piece of land, the government would exercise the law of eminent domain to seize the land at less than market value. The people who make money from a new railway line are the people who own the land *next to* (not ON) the rail line, and who get rich by building hotels or restaurants that cater for the rail travellers. Speaking of cliches, we also get that British thick-ear cliche: the gang of Cockney spivs with a toff as their "guv'nor".
None of the 'Mother Riley' films are very funny, but 'Headmistress' is more enjoyable than most because of all those attractive teenage seminary girls, who sing very prettily. No schoolgirl uniforms, worse luck, and only Mother Riley wears a gymslip, but we get to see the lasses briefly in form-fitting P.E. clothes and short-skirted band uniforms. At the very end, there's a clever coup de theatre which changes Mother Riley's laundry into a railway station. I'll rate this series entry 3 points out of 10, which is higher than most of the Mother Riley films deserve.
Recently, I was told by Roy Hudd - a veteran of the old-time English variety halls (vaudeville) - that, when the Old Mother Riley films were being made, Arthur Lucan always arrived at the movie studio in full (female) costume and make-up, and he remained in character until he went home (still in drag). Allegedly, he didn't want anyone to know how he looked out of costume, so that (when he wasn't working) he could visit the local pub or chip shop without being recognised as a celebrity. I don't know if I believe this story, but it does explain why I've never seen a photograph of Arthur Lucan in which he is *not* wearing his Irish scrubwoman disguise!
Interesting example of early Brit comedy
janfletcher495 January 2001
The Old Mother Riley series was certainly an interesting concept. Heterosexual British males really relish dressing up in drag (Dame Edith, Monty Python, Benny Hill, etc.), and this series may well have started more modern comedians on their way. Unfortunately, the films have suffered in quality over the years, and are faded or spotty. Some that I have viewed have such poor sound quality that I lost a goodly portion of the jokes as well as the plot! "Headmistress" has survived somewhat better, probably because it was towards the end of the series, but Lucan's physical comedy has become automatic and predictable in this one. Still, if you are a lover of Brit humor, as I am, you'll find this a pleasant pasttime.
release at last of 4 films of forgotten British star of the 30s40s and 50s
mikelang4224 July 2011
Fifty years after his death behind the curtains of the Tivoli Theatre,Kingston upon Hull, whilst waiting to go on stage Arthur Lucan, born Arthur Towle in 1887 is not really remembered today. Along with wife Kitty Mcshane who was 16 when he wed her,Lucan would play Irish harridan washerwoman Old Mother Riley with Kitty as his daughter in 15 B movie comedies starting in 1937 and finishing in 1952 without wife due to separation,(her infidelity and his drinking)in the best film, Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire, starring the great Bela Lugosi Lugosi's UK stage tour of Dracula had failed at the box office and along with Lucan who was also broke due to an ill advised venture by Kitty, teamed up with Dora Bryan replacing female interest Kitty, plus a bevy of British comic talent inc Hattie Jacques and Richard Wattis. The DVD copy of this and the lesser Headmistress 1951 is not bad. The other two releases, both again on one disc, Jungle Treasure 1952 and New Venture 1950 are poor in the sound dept. These films packed cinemas as their live act packed theatres all over the world. They topped The Royal Variety Show in 1934.The humour was very broad and perhaps has not traveled very well, but if a new audience can be found with these releases, I for one will be very happy. Bit of Trivia for movie buffs. Vampire was released as surport film to Untamed Frontier starring Joseph Cotten, Shelley Winters and Scott Brady. A really weird double bill.
Old Mother Riley, Headmistress (1950) *
JoeKarlosi2 February 2011
Before this viewing the only exposure I'd ever had to this long-running British MOTHER RILEY series had been 1952's MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE (known in the US as MY SON, THE VAMPIRE). Well, that movie co-starred horror legend Bela Lugosi and now seems like a cinematic classic compared to this one. I had toyed with the idea of going through the whole catalogue of Mother Riley adventures, but after seeing two of them I think I'm pretty content to draw the line there. For those who don't know, the character of old hag Mother Riley was played by Irish comedian Arthur Lucan in drag. He had a long-standing act with his wife Kitty McShane, who joins him in his routine as Mother Riley's daughter(!), and it's a very odd thing to watch when you realize this. Apparently this series went on for over a dozen movies and was very popular in England, don't ask me how. In HEADMISTRESS, Old Mother Riley starts out working and blundering customers' orders at a laundromat. Then she winds up owning the establishment through a strange twist of fate, and then becomes the headmistress of an all-girls' finishing school. Despite Lucan's wild and frantic efforts in the old lady get-up, there is nothing funny here and it's quite difficult to decipher what she's saying through her heavy accent. * out of ****
The Belles of St.Mildred's
richardchatten23 October 2021
The writers must have gorged themselves on cheese & pickles before penning this latter-day Old Mother Riley vehicle (complete with a genuinely weird fantasy sequence featuring a talking bust, an animate piano and dancing girls).
On paper it doesn't sound too appetising, but John Harlow directs smoothly, with occasional burst wipes and a heart-shaped iris-in to keep it moving, and graceful camerawork by veteran Jimmy Wilson. The pupils include a young Pat Owens and (unbilled) the staff an even younger Katie Boyle.
On paper it doesn't sound too appetising, but John Harlow directs smoothly, with occasional burst wipes and a heart-shaped iris-in to keep it moving, and graceful camerawork by veteran Jimmy Wilson. The pupils include a young Pat Owens and (unbilled) the staff an even younger Katie Boyle.
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