A party of archaeologists discovers the remnants of a mutant five millennia-old Sumerian civilization living beneath a glacier atop a mountain in Mesopatamia.
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I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
Save your money for something good and enjoyable
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
I know that I was introduced to this movie on MST3K but even so, I still judge movies as they are as movies. I rarely try to judge them on how the show portrays them. The show is funny, but it isn't the movie itself. Anyways, with that aside, I will talk more about the actual film itself. It was alright as a general whole and it makes more sense than a lot of sci-fi flicks that were made in that time period. There is a bit of a confusing and yet decent enough story line if you actually manage to get yourself to care for it at all. Although I do wonder what the whole thing on slavery on over 5,000 years was really even an idea to begin with coming along. The effects are the same generic stuff you would expect in a movie at the time although the mole people as the film calls them are actually not that bad in terms of looks. And the acting was decent... just decent though. Overall, a better entry in MST3K than most of the movies in their list, even if it isn't exactly a great movie as a whole. But I am just looking at it as is.
This isn't exactly a horror movie, more like an adventure movie actually, but nevertheless, it's a lot of fun! Sure, the prologue is pretty dumb and the first twenty minutes or so are typical of a 50- 60's-B-movie, but after that, it sure gets good! The king of the people living under the ground is amusingly played by Alan Napier and slightly outshines all the other not-so-good actors! The mole people look cool and it's nice to see a monster movie where you can feel sympathy for the monsters instead of being scared by them, as that was pretty unusual for old monster movies. The dialog is cheesy but kinda funny. The ending brings mixed feelings to me though and the majority of the acting is crummy, but when it's good, it's really good! Thumbs up for the mole people!
"The Mole People" isn't your usual '50s sci-fi flick. It has a slightly more intellectual side to it: a combination of the Hollow Earth Theory and a look at ancient civilizations. The plot is that a pair of archaeologists uncover an underground civilization consisting of descendants of the Sumerians. The ancient culture takes the archaeologists for gods after the archaeologists' flashlight hurts their eyes, since five millenniums underground have made them photosensitive.Yeah, it's pretty far-fetched. The title characters are the civilization's slaves: burrowing creatures with arachnid heads and webbed hands. Overall, the movie is pretty original, and very enjoyable.Starring John Agar (Shirley Temple's first husband), Hugh Beaumont (the dad on "Leave It to Beaver"), and Alan Napier (Alfred on the 1960s "Batman").By "Asia" at the beginning of the movie, I'm guessing that they meant either the Middle East or Central Asia.
The Mole People starts in Asia where a team of archaeologists are busy at work doing archaeological stuff, a young boy brings top archaeologist Dr. Roger Bentley (John Agar) an old lamp with an intriguing inscription carved on it talking about the ancient god Ishtar. The boy claims he found the relic atop a mountain nearby, on a hunch Bentley decides to organize an expedition to the mountain top to see what's there. Bentley along with a few other men climb to the summit of the mountain & are mazed to discover the ancient ruins of a 5000 year old Sumerian city, in an accident one of the team falls down a large hole with the other's making their way down to help him. Once at the bottom a cave in traps three survivors down in the dark caverns & tunnels but help is at hand when they find a small number of albino human beings living there, the remains of the ancient Sumerian civilisation. Also living down there are the mutant Mole People but who should the archaeologists be more afraid of?Directed by Virgil Vogel this black and white Universal Pictures sci-fi monster film was probably better back when it originally came out in the mid 50's, watching The Mole People today (as I literally just did) I can't say I was that impressed with it although having said that it passes the time I suppose. I guess I was expecting a fairly straight forward monster film about Mole People but they are more of a side issue, an afterthought by the makers who maybe decided they needed a monster of some kind & The Mole People is more of an adventure film where some archaeologists discover an ancient civilisation & become political pawns for power as they try to survive & get back home. At only 77 minutes long at least it's short, it moves along at a decent pace & the story is solid enough but I couldn't help but think the film as a whole was dull. It never really grabbed me, it never got my imagination going & I wanted to see more Mole People. The script actually makes the Mole People the victims rather than the aggressors & it's them we are supposed to sympathize with in an unusual twist for the period but because the Mole People are silent creatures who just seem to stumble around it's hard to feel that much for them & why didn't they revolt & fight back against their captors earlier? The often asked moral cinematic sci-fi question of who are the real monsters, them or us is asked but only in passing & without much conviction. There's the obligatory romance between the leading man & woman & one or two nice moments but overall I though The Mole People was pretty average.The shots of the expedition climbing the glacier are taken from the German adventure film Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü (1929) while itself was later edited into The Wild World of Batwoman (1966). The Mole People look alright actually, I'm not sure why they wear suits but who cares. They are among the better monsters from this period although rather underused & aren't the villains. The film looks pretty good with decent sets & costumes, the make-up on some of the albino character's make them look like they are covered in wax but hey, it was 1956. There film goes for adventure rather than horror or suspense, there are a few scenes of Mole People dragging people under the dirt but otherwise there's nothing scary here. A bizarre introduction hosted by someone called Dr. Frank Baxter has him talk about strange theories about the Earth & it's core.Filmed on a supposed budget of about $200,000 this is well made & looks quite good, you can tell it had a major studio behind it even if they didn't spend too much on it. The acting is a bit wooden like a lot of films from this era but the material they have to work with isn't exactly inspiring.The Mole People is a decent enough little film, there's some monsters, a lost city & civilisation & some action too but I found it rather dull & the Mole People don't feature enough. Watchable enough if you can catch it on telly for free but there's no need to spend good money on it.