Old Mother Riley is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Arthur Lucan in the lead, with Kitty McShane, Barbara Everest, Patrick Ludlow and Hubert Leslie.

[1] This is the first in a series of films made between 1937–1952, featuring Arthur Lucan's elderly drag character, and her daughter Kitty.

After small roles in the Irish Kathleen Mavourneen (also 1937), Lucan and McShane were approached to star in their own film, Old Mother Riley.

The film was cheaply made (it cost £2,000, taking six weeks to shoot) and based on their music hall sketch ‘The Matchseller’.

[3] TV Guide commented that "far from being impressive cinema, the "Old Mother Riley" series provided for some innocuous and occasionally hysterical entertainment.