"The Mole People" is another underrated black-and-white B-movie from the 50´s. The story of archaeologists that discover an ancient underground society in Asia is entertaining but unfortunately the rushed conclusion is lame and gives the sensation that the budget ended and the film had to be interrupted. The beauty of Cynthia Patrick is still impressive in the present days. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "O Templo do Pavor" ("The Temple of the Dread")

An anthropological expedition in Tibet led by John Agar discovers both an ancient primitive race of pasty, light sensitive, superstitious albinos and the browbeaten, grotesquely unsightly burrowing mutants called the Mole People whom the albinos cruelly exploit as slave labor deep within the bowels of the earth. Competently directed by Virgil Vogel, with a fanciful and intriguing script by Lazslo Gorog, handsome photography by Ellis Carter, admirably sincere acting from a solid cast (Agar is his usual reliably stalwart self while the lovely Cynthia Patrick makes for a charming heroine and Alan Napier has a grand time as an evil high priest),a steady, if less than stirring pace, nifty and impressive special effects (the matte paintings are beautiful),a properly eerie and claustrophobic atmosphere, funky monster make-up by Bud Westmore (the Mole People are truly gnarly-looking subhuman beasts),a rousing last reel revolt by the Mole People against their mean oppressors, and a surprisingly downbeat ending, this baby sizes up as a hugely enjoyable golden oldie fantasy horror picture.

Considering that I love sci-fi and horror films from the 1950s, it is very surprising that I rate this film as low as I do. It just happens that of a string of these type movies had by Universal, this is about the dullest one.

I group of scientists are exploring when they stumble upon a huge crack that leads to underground caverns. When they descend into them, they are captured by the subterranean people. Because they have lived under ground since ancient times and are look much like albinos, as it turns out their civilization was swallowed into the earth along with them.

At first, everything seems just peachy, but later these underground people turn out to be major jerks who keep incredibly ugly creatures as slaves. They beat the poor mole-like things and when the scientist complain, the ancient dudes attack. However, the above ground people assist the mole people to fight back against their evil overlords and they return back to the surface.

Aside from a less than inspiring script with few things to scare you, the acting and direction are pretty dull as well. It is amazing that a film called MOLE PEOPLE could be as static and uninteresting as this one was.