803 - THE MOLE PEOPLE (1956; NR; 78m)

a.k.a. MENACES SOUS LA TERRE (Belgium)
a.k.a. NEL TEMPIO DEGLI UOMINI TALPA (Italy)

Ad: "From a Lost Age...HORROR Crawls from the Depths of the Earth!"
"...a savage civilization a million years old, raging with blood-lusting fury!"

Plot: Climbing up to a mountain peak, archaeologists accidentally descend to an underground world inhabited by an ancient Sumerian albino race, which uses mutant Molemen as their slaves.

Prod: William Alland (*801-Revenge of the Creature; 804-The Deadly Mantis; 906-The Space Children; L02-This Island Earth)
Dir: Virgil Vogel (TV's Big Valley; Quantum Leap; ed/L02)
Asst Dir: Ronnie Rondell Jr. (Foxfire; Captain Ron)
Scr: Laszlo Gorog (313-Earth Vs. The Spider; The Land Unknown)
Cin: Ellis Carter (804; 802-The Leech Woman; The Land Unknown)
Ed: Irving Birnbaum (203S-The Phantom Creeps; Green Hornet)
SFX Cin: Clifford Stine
(L02; 606-The Creeping Terror; 805-The Thing That Couldn't Die)
Cos/Gowns: Jay A. Morley Jr. (801/804; Creature Walks Among Us)
M/U: Bud Westmore
(801/802/804/805/L02; *614-San Francisco International)
Hair: Joan St. Oegger (801/L02; 309-The Amazing Colossal Man)
ADir: Alexander Golitzen
(801/802/804/805/L02; 615-Kitten With A Whip)
ADir: Robert Emmet Smith (Oscar nom/King Rat)
Set: Russell A. Gausman (801/802/804/805/L02; 702-Brute Man)
Set: Carl J. Lawrence (Scarlet Street; Terror by Night)
Sound: Leslie I. Carey (801/802/804/805/L02)
Sound: Thomas N. Thompson (I've Lived Before)
Music Sup: Joseph Gershenson (801/*615/804/805/L02; prod/802)
Score: Hans J. Salter (702/L02; Man-Eater of Kumaon)
Score: Herman Stein (801/L02; It Came From Outer Space)
Score: Heinz Roemheld (won Oscar/Yankee Doodle Dandy)
Score: Henry Mancini (801/804/805/L02*; Charade)

Dr. Roger Bentley / John Agar
(801; *104-Women of the Prehistoric Planet)
Adad a.k.a. Adal / Cynthia Patrick (Written on the Wind)
Dr. Jud Bellamin / Hugh Beaumont
(*208-Lost Continent; 420-The Human Duplicators)
High Priest Elinu / Alan Napier*
Prof. Etienne Lafarge / Nestor Paiva (*801; Humoresque)
Dr. Paul Stuart / Phil Chambers (Raintree County; The Big Heat)
Nazar / Rodd Redwing (Creature from the Black Lagoon)
first officer / Robin Hughes (805; Auntie Mame; The Court Jester)
King Sharu / Arthur D. Gilmour (When Worlds Collide; Gang War)
himself / Dr. Frank Baxter*
dancer / Yvonne De Lavallade
officer / James Logan (Notorious; Son of Dr Jekyll; Dinosaurus)
priest / Kay Kuter (Sabrina; Guys and Dolls; The Steel Jungle)
priest / John Dodsworth (The Magnetic Monster; Untamed)
priest / Marc Hamilton (L02; Giant; The Man from Del Rio)
guard / Patrick Whyte (615; The Hideous Sun Demon)
Arab foreman / Joseph Abdullah (Legion of the Doomed)
shepherd boy / Billy Miller (The Restless Breed; Run of the Arrow)
Moleman / Eddie Parker
(L02; *423-Bride of the Monster; 406S-Undersea Kingdom)
Moleman / Regis Parton (L02; Alien Nation)
Moleman / Eddie Keyes (props/The Incredible Shrinking Man)
Moleman / Ben Chapman
(pmgr/402-The Giant Gila Monster; 407-The Killer Shrews)
Moleman / Robert Hoy (801; 324-Master Ninja II)
Moleman / George Robotham (The Robe; Spartacus)
Moleman / Bob Herron
(108-Slime People; Klingon/Star Trek's Savage Curtain episode)
Moleman / Joe Rubino (The French Line)

Classic Line: "Archaeologists are underpaid publicity agents for deceased royalty."

Classic Line: "This one (skeleton) died as a result of a blow with a heavy blunt instrument." "That's a sign of a higher civilization."

Classic Line: "Did you ever hear of anyone smoking dried mushrooms?"

Trivia: That huge underground cavern and those Mole People should look familiar to you...they were briefly (and incongruously) seen in 515-THE WILD, WILD WORLD OF BATWOMAN.

The original ending had Dr. Bentley and Adal happily strolling off together. The studio insisted that a new ending be shot two weeks after filming was completed, because there was reluctance to imply an inter-racial relationship! After all, Adal was a Sumerian, so she got clobbered with a column instead.

Distinguished British character actor ALAN NAPIER (1903-1988) was most famous for his role as Alfred, the Butler of Wayne Manor, in the campy TV series Batman (1966-1968), a role which he reprised in the film of the same name in 1966. His films included: 1931-In A Monastary Garden; 1940-The Invisible Man Returns (starring Vincent Price); 1942-Random Harvest; 1944-The Uninvited (with Ray Milland); The Hairy Ape; 1946-House of Horrors; 1947-Forever Amber; 1950-Tarzan's Magic Fountain; 1953-Julius Caesar; 1954-Desiree (with Marlon Brando); 1955-The Court Jester (starred Danny Kaye); 1959-Journey to the Center of the Earth; 1964-Marnie (directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Sean Connery); and 1965-The Loved One (with Jonathan Winters).

Theoretically that intro by DR. FRANK BAXTER was to lend some credibility to the movie's subject matter. Perhaps by waving his hands around, he thought the audience wouldn't quite listen to the outlandish things he said. However, do note that this man was a University of Southern California ENGLISH professor, not Science. By the way, Baxter did some educational TV specials for children, including 1956's Our Mister Sun, and hosted the TV series Telephone Time (1957-1958).

Last Updated: 3/28/1999