 List Price: $9.98 
Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-06-14
WHAT BIG EYES YOU HAVE!
One of the advantages of being an old fart is that you can look at old movies with an unjaudiced eye. You can appreciate them for what they were/are instead of getting overly concerned about whether or not the special effects are "believable" or whether you can see the zippers in the monster's costume or whether the acting is Oscar worthy or not. In short, you can just watch the movie and have a good time. I've always had a good time with the old movies from the 1950's, and one of the flicks I've enjoyed consistently is THE MOLE PEOPLE.
Now possibly one of the reasons I got an extra kick out of the movie was that it was the first horror film I saw after learning about the Catholic Church's list of condemned films. MOLE PEOPLE was on that list, and even though our family wasn't comprised of very many practicing Catholics, it did give the film a certain special appeal. You know what I mean? I just had to see whatever it was they didn't want me to see!
Of course since I was only about 9 at the time I wasn't expecting anything in particular so I wasn't disappointed. A little mystified maybe, but not disappointed. It had everything I could ask for: archaeologists hunting for lost peoples, weird looking monsters who knew the value of friendship, a lost civilzation that worshipped a strange God (which might have been what had the Church freaked out in retrospect), and the inevitable earthquake that screws everything up.
Frank Baxter, who hosted a well-known tv show, does the film's intro to give the story some added creedence. Hugh Beaumont (from LEAVE IT TO BEAVER) stars as an archaeologist, John Agar is our square jawed leading man, Alan Napier is the High Priest of the lost civilzation the explorers discover, and Cynthia Nixon is the cursed girl with whom Agar falls in love.
Yes sir, a perfect movie going experience then and now. What a shame the MST3K people will never be able to appreciate it. Rating:
Date: 2007-07-09
HARD TO DISLIKE THESE OLD MONSTER MOVIES! THIS IS ON DVD!
I love these old monster films and I know my rating is higher than the film deserves. I do rate it higher in part because of the fantastic print that was released on DVD in a Sci- Fi collection set exclusive to Best Buy. The film itself is a lot of fun and watching a nice clear print on my jumbo home screen made it all that much better! The set also includes Tarantula,The Incredible Shrinking Man,The Monolith Monsters and Monster on Campus! How can you beat that line up! This is a first for all these old gems on DVD! Well worth looking for! Rating: 
Date: 2007-01-18
Fun to watch for its total lack of talent in front of or behind the camera
The Mole People is one of those old sci-fi/horror movies that are fun to watch because of their ineptitude. MST3K did a good job with this particular roll of film when they were on the air. A group of archaeologists accidentally discover a race of people living underground. These people can't stand the light and when they see the scientist's flashlight they believe them to be Gods because they carry light in their cylinder. Only the high priest believes them to be mortal and he spends the movie trying to prove it to his king. The humans try to find a way out of the Mole People kingdom and cause a rebellion among a group of creatures they have enslaved to do their labor. It's all done very badly and with no action or suspense whatsoever. The script is stretched tight to make a full movie out of a twenty minute plot. The Mole People is not a well made movie, but can be fun to watch nonetheless. Rating:
Date: 2006-09-24
Good In It's Own Right
I love it when I hear the "culture set" say they saw films like this on MSTK3000, because that means they never really watched it for the entertainment value it originally had. When I was a kid I caught this on the Saturday Afternoon Movie, and I was enraptured. An ancient civilization of albino fanatics worshipping Ishtar, and it was frankly frightening to a nine year old boy - Mole People that dragged the heros into the ground and killed with long sharp clawed hands, human sacrifices, dark frightening caverns under the earth, and giant dead cities. Yes, the science is hokey - and at times the production crew got the historical facts dead wrong - but John Agar is a solid sci-fi hero and it was nice to see Hugh Beumont in a role other than Leave It To Beaver, and the rest of the cast does a very good job of keeping the story moving (Alan Napier is great as the evil head of the religious sect). For a B picture, the special effects were well done. There is a constant feeling of gloom and impending doom - or at least as much as Holliwood allowed in their 50's sci-fi movies. And it's interesting to note that the rumor is the original ending was supposed to be a happy ending, until the studio apparently was afraid that Adal and Roger living happily ever after would be considered inter-racial marriage. Too bad. I wish they'd release it with the happy ending, because every time I watch this movie I want a happy ending. I've introduced this film to my ten year old daughter, and like myself all that time ago, she was facinated by the adventure story.
I for one am glad this has been release on DVD finally (in Universal's The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection box set), as it's one of my favorite movies from a time period when you could still believe in a civilization lost beneath the crust of the earth. For the MSTK3000 crowd, if you want a really well-made, frightening sci-fi movie made today about the same subject, go see "Descent". It's the modern, darker version of "The Mole People", and it will satisfy your darker needs. But as a dad, I'm hoping my daughter won't feel the need to see a movie like that for a long time.
Rating:
Date: 2006-09-11
Is it on DVD? I hope so.
If this movie isn't on DVD, what a shame! Freaking Bela Legosi's Devil Bat is on DVD and that's a FAR worse film than this.
Before the actual start of The Mole People, a bald English professor tells us about myths, legends, and theories involving what may lie underneath the surface of the globe. Not one of them is even close to being plausible.
After the opening credits we find out the movie takes place in Asia. That's helpful. We see John Agar, Hugh Beaumont, and an old guy who's always in the way go on an archaeological expedition up a darn high mountain. Of course, a few expendable extras tags along, and one of them falls down a deep hole when the mountain's summit is reached. The whole expedition climbs down the hole in a lengthy rope descending scene, and the extra is found dead of course. Another extra makes the mistake of hammering a peg in the wrong place during the decent, and gets killed in an avalanche, which traps John Agar's and crew hundreds of feet below the surface. Man, two extras killed in 15 minutes. What a downer.
At this point, the movie really gets going. A pale-skinned race of people capture the Agar crew. Why, these must be the mole people!! Actually, they're not. Instead, they're the people who have enslaved the mole people, and they whip the poor ugly mole-folk day and night.
The movie's science gets pretty bad here, and we find out that the pale-skinned albinos have a tan person born among them every now and then. John Agar falls in love with the tan chick, because she's hot of course. Hugh Beaumont and the rest of the clue seem to accept this.
Agar's crew manages to avoid getting killed by the albinos with the clever use of a god-like flashlight, and a few of the mole people are freed in the process.
In the end, the old guy dies, Agar's girlfriend dies, the albinos die, and the mole people die. Man. Makes you think doesn't it?
The MST3K version of this movie is unbeatable. Funniest thing ever. However, the movie on its own is silly enough to provide a few good laughs, so don't feel bad if you can't find a way to see the MST3K version. I highly recommend that everybody see this movie in some form or fashion at least once. It accidentally addresses some interesting cultural issues as it goes through its approximately 90 minute flop around. It also has some human sacrifice scenes and plenty of mole-whipping if you're into that.
I particularly like the mole peoples' costumes. They're not very scary, and almost cute in an ugly sort of way. |
