The Mole People (film)

Infobox_Film
name = The Mole People


caption = film poster by Joseph Smith
writer = László Görög
starring = John Agar
Hugh Beaumont
Cynthia Patrick
director = Virgil W. Vogel
producer = William Alland
distributor = Universal Pictures Company
released = USA: 1956 and 1964 (re-release); Finland: 1957|w runtime = 77 min. language = English
budget = $200,000
music =
amg_id = 1:33053
imdb_id = 0049516

"The Mole People" is a 1956 science fiction film directed by Virgil W. Vogel.

Plot

The film begins with a narration by Dr. Frank Baxter, an English professor at the University of Southern California, explaining the premise of the movie and its basis in reality. He briefly discusses the hollow earth theories of John Symmes and Cyrus Teed among others, and says that the movie is a fictionalized representation of this unorthodox point-of-view.

In this movie, archaeologists John Agar and Hugh Beaumont stumble upon a race of Sumerian albinos living deep under the Earth. They keep mutant humanoid mole men as their slaves to harvest mushrooms, their primary food source, since they can grow without sunlight. The Sumerian albinos' ancestors moved into the subterranean after the cataclysmic floods in ancient Mesopotamia. Whenever their population increases, they sacrifice old people to the Eye of Ishtar, which is really natural light coming from the surface. These people have lived underground for so long that they are weakened by bright light which the archaeologists brought in the form of a flashlight. However, there is one girl who has natural Caucasian skin who is disdained by the others. They believe the men are messengers of Ishtar, their goddess.

When one of the archaeologists is killed by a mole Person, Elinor, the High Priest realizes they are not gods. He orders their capture and takes the flashlight to control the Mole People, not knowing it is depleted. The archaeologists are then sent to the Eye just as the Mole People rebel. The girl goes to the Eye only to realize its true nature and the men had survived. They then leave for the surface. Unfortunately, the girl dies after reaching the surface, when an earthquake causes a column to fall over and crush her.

Characters

Elinor, the High Priest of the Sumerians, is played by Alan Napier, who was also Alfred on the "Batman" television show. One of the heroes is played by Hugh Beaumont, who went on to play Ward Cleaver in the "Leave It To Beaver" television show.

Trivia

*The movie may have been inspired by the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men.

*László Görög, the writer of the movie is the grandfather of comedian Adam Corolla. Adam mentioned this 5 minutes into the August, 14, 2001 episode of the radio show Loveline.

In Other Media

This film was parodied on the television show "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

A clip from this movie was used in the 1968 film "The Wild World of Batwoman", as creatures created by one of the movie's villains. This use was itself parodied on Mystery Science Theater 3000, with Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo mocking the classic slogan for Reese's Peanut Butter cups followed by Mike Nelson imitating the film's villain, proclaiming "That's enough of THAT film."

External links

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* [http://www.mst3kinfo.com/aceg/8/803/ep803.html MST3K Episode Guide: The Mole People]
* [http://www.mmmrecordings.com/Monstrous/monstrous.html Film score excerpts re-recorded on "Monstrous Movie Music" label (sound samples available)]
* [http://www.altfg.com/blog/film-reviews/mole-people-virgil-vogel/ DVD Review of The Mole People]