# Old Mother Riley Headmistress

Old Mother Riley, Headmistress is a low-budget black-and-white 1950 British comedy film directed by John Harlow and starring Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane. The screenplay was by Ted Kavanagh and Harlow. The 13th film in the Old Mother Riley series, it features the Luton Girls Choir playing many of Mother Riley's pupils.

## Plot

Daughter Kitty is sacked from her job as music teacher at an exclusive girls' school, but Mother Riley unexpectedly comes into an inheritance, and decides to buy the girls finishing school and give Kitty her job back. Mother Riley soon establishes herself as headmistress at St. Mildred's School for Young Ladies, and throws herself into her new role with vigour, whether it is taking P.E. lessons, brazenly cheating on Sports Day, or confronting the haunted school piano.

## Cast

* Arthur Lucan as Daphne Snowdrop Bluebell Riley
* Kitty McShane as Kitty Riley
* The Luton Girls Choir as school choir
* Willer Neal as Bill Travers
* Cyril Smith as Maltby
* C. Denier Warren as Clifton Hill
* Enid Hewitt as Miss Helen Carruthers
* Paul Sheridan as Nixon
* Harry Herbert as Simon
* Oswald Waller as Copeland
* Jenny Mathot as Mlle Leblanc
* Myrette Morven as Miss Chester
* Ethel Royal as Lady Meersham
* Bill Stephens as mayor
* Catherine Carleton as Miss Ashton
* Dorothy Darke as Mrs Shaw
* Vi Kaley as 1st laundry girl
* Jaqueline Stanley as 2nd laundry girl
* Beth Ross as Maisie
* Madge Brindley as Mrs Clarke
* Pamela Hill as woman
* Graham Tonbridge as chauffeur
* Patricia Owens, Genine Graham, Joy Frankau, Betty Benson, Mary Thompson, Suzanne Wilde, Doorn Van Steyne, Coral Woods, Joy Adams, Cora Farrel, Sally Owen, Lyn James, Ursula Hopwood, and Diana Connell as girls

## Critical reception

Kine Weekly wrote: "The picture is somewhat loosely put together, but The Luton Girls' Choir, aided and abetted by lightly-clad PT exponents, effectually punctuates its laughs and strengthens both its entertainment and its billing. Well staged, it should easily win the approval of Mother Riley fans, who, we understand, are legion."
Picturegoer wrote: "No. Definitely not one of the best of the series. There are few of the funny situations which have brought fame to Arthur Lucan and his wife, Kitty McShane, in the past. Many of the jokes are on the corny side."
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "poor", writing: "One of the briefest and weakest oif the series."
Anthony Nield wrote in The Digital Fix, "whilst the idea of Old Mother Riley owning her own girls' school should provide plenty of comic mileage, we're still faced with some pointless musical numbers to pad things out...(but) there's a chirpiness and a punch in the screenplay which is hard not to enjoy. Of course, any level of sophistication is kept at a bare minimum (Lucan was never the subtlest of actors; he performed for the camera just as he did on the stage), but in its own way …Headmistress has an energy equal to that of, say, Hellzapoppin' or the Marx Brothers A Night in Casablanca, even if both are far superior and much funnier. There's a non-stop quality to the gags which, whilst the film may ultimately be forgettable, amounts to great deal of fun. Certainly, for a thirteenth entry in a big screen franchise (and one made almost as many years after the first), it's far better than we should rightfully expect."
TV Guide noted, "a poor addition to the "Old Mother Riley" stable...If you see only one "Old Mother Riley" film in your lifetime, don't make it this one."
"Fielding's Review" wrote, "lots of fun gags in this one. Along with Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire, it's the best of the set."