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Five archeologists, led by John Agar, mount an expedition to a mountain in Iraq ... I guess, the subtitles identify the location only as "Asia".  Two of them are killed in freak accidents when they discover a cave system, the other three are trapped underground.  These three discover an ancient Sumerian city built in the vast network of caverns.  Once they enter the city, they find it inhabited by two races: human albinos and monsters.  Whether the title refers to the albinos or the monsters is anyone's guess.  The albinos have enslaved the monsters and use them to harvest the mushrooms that are the only source of food in the subterranean world they inhabit.  The archeologists decide that won't do and foment a rebellion among the monsters -- Actually, no, that's not what happens.  The archeologists don't do ANYTHING, except wander around and look at stuff.  What actually happens is that a human slave - who is a "marked one" because she had the audacity to be born with melanin - falls in love with John Agar.  She is the one who foments the rebellion among the monsters, who slaughter all of the albinos.  After causing the extinction of her own race, she makes it back to the surface with John Agar, where she and presumably even Agar are killed by a huge earthquake/avalanche/vague natural disaster.  The End.

The Mole People would seem to be the work of a dire misanthrope.  The treatment of the characters is vicious.  Three of the five archeologists are gruesomely killed in short order, the remaining two are utter a***oles, the albinos are cruel slave lords and practice human sacrifice, the slave girl betrays her own race for the sake of a guy who's been pretending to be a god and lording it over her people, and literally everyone ends up dead at the end.  The only remotely sympathetic characters are the monsters!  Let's not even go into the scene where three pretty girls are roasted alive, presumably because somebody thought that's what an audience really wanted to see.

I'm not quite sure what I think of The Mole People.  It's quite a morally complex movie.  The albinos are not very nice people, but they only did what they had to do to survive in the bleakest imaginable environment for 5000 years.  On the other hand, I think this complexity made it in by complete accident.  No one seems to have realized that everything the albinos do can be pretty well justified in terms of basic survival.  No one seems to have realized that John Agar set into motion a chain of events that led to the destruction of a 5000 year old civilization.  No one seems to have realized that the slave girl is a betrayer of the highest order.  No, we're just supposed to be thinking, "Serves those albinos right for being mean!" 

... except for that ending.  After John Agar's character brushed off the immense moral weight of the climax, he, the other archeologist, and the slave girl made it back to the surface - where they all died in that earthquake/avalanche/vague natural disaster.  I can only imagine that the director, or someone, realized what a bunch of pricks his characters were and decided that no, oh hell no, no way were they getting a happy ending.

This has always been regarded as being one of the worst films ever made, and it may be, but when I saw it on television, I rather liked it. Maybe because the cast--John Agar, Hugh Beaumont, Alan Napier, Nestor Pavia, and Frank Baxter--was not your normal cast for your "bad" movie.

Probably the oddest name there is Frank Baxter, whose films--"Our Mr. Sun," "Hemo the Magnificent," etc. were played constantly in science class, when I was in school in the '60's. And I always found them enjoyable.

Actually only Adal/Adad (her name is given one way in the film, and another in the credits) is killed in the earthquake.  Fun Fact: She was originally slated to survive and live happily ever after with John Agar, but the producers demanded a reshot ending, due to the implication of an interracial relationship!

My detailed thoughts on the film can be read here: http://www.bthroughz.com/2010/oct/mole.html (http://www.bthroughz.com/2010/oct/mole.html)

It was good enough to garner a Don Post mask in the 60's!

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/2725894086_615caaf4e3-2.jpg)

Personally-I like most anything with John Agar. And the monsters were cool.  :thumbup:

Anything with Hugh Beaumont is worth watching multiple times.

Good point about the casting: You had Ward Cleaver, Alfred The Butler, and Major Jay all in one movie  :tongueout: 

Somewhere on my shelf is an old Horizon model of one of The Mole People. I gotit back in the 90's when Horizon was making these somewhat decent quality lower price kits to most likely counter the influence of Screamin' kits,which were WAY too expensive (imho anyway.)

Classic 50's garbage that I haven't seen in forever.