Old Mother Riley's Jungle Treasure

Old Mother Riley's Jungle Treasure is a low budget 1951 British comedy film, the penultimate in the long running Old Mother Riley series starring Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane. It features an early appearance by future Carry On regular Peter Butterworth.^[1]

Old Mother Riley's Jungle Treasure
Directed by	Maclean Rogers
Screenplay by	Val Valentine
Produced by	Maclean Rogers
Starring	Arthur Lucan Kitty McShane
Cinematography	James Wilson
Edited by	Anne Barker
Music by	Wilfred Burns
Production company	Oakland Films
Distributed by	Renown Pictures
Release date	1951 (1951)
Running time	75 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Husband and wife Arthur Lucan and Kitty McShane had separated by the time of production, and were touring in different "Old Mother Riley" shows. This was Kitty's final Mother Riley film, and her scenes with Lucan were reputedly shot on separate days.^[2]

During filming, there was a strike over pay, led by the dancer Josie Woods, who was an extra on the film.^[3]

Plot summary

Mother Riley, working in an antique shop with daughter Kitty, uncovers a secret treasure map hidden in the headboard of an antique bed.

With the help of the ghost of the pirate Captain Morgan, Mother Riley and Kitty head for a remote tropical island in the South Seas, and begin their hunt for buried treasure. Not only do they find the fortune, but Mother Riley ends up celebrated by natives as their tribe’s queen.^[4][5][6]

Cast

• Old Mother Riley ...Arthur Lucan
• Kitty ... Kitty McShane
• Jim ... Garry Marsh
• Captain Daincourt ... Cyril Chamberlain
• Chief 'Stinker' Carstairs ... Robert Adams
• James Orders ... Roddy Hughes
• Harry Benson ... Willer Neal
• Estelle ... Anita D'ray
• Morgan the Pirate ... Sebastian Cabot
• Flying Officer Prang ... Bill Shine (actor)
• Steve ... Peter Butterworth
• Mr Benson ... Peter Swanwick
• Slim ... Harry Lane
• Jake ... Michael Ripper
• Air Hostess ... Maria Mercedes
• Ted ... Gerald Rex

Critical reception

• TV Guide called the movie, a "relentlessly absurd farce...A film in the stylized vein of British comedy (as are all the pictures in the "Old Mother Riley" series) that continues through the films of Monty Python."^[4]
• David Parkinson writes in Moviemail.com, " a discreet veil should be drawn over the last third of Jungle Treasure (1951), as its racial stereotyping outdoes anything seen in a Tarzan adventure."^[7]