The Mole People

With a tiny dash of “science” and a huge heap of “fiction”, this little classic, with its Jules Verne influences and H.G. Wells references (the hirsute mole men and their masters are reminiscent of the Eloi and Morlocks of the world-famous novel “The Time Machine”, 1895), unimaginatively revisits the “Hollow Earth theory” film genre.

The result is an unsophisticated film characterized by a succession of improbable situations and populated by stereotypical characters with behaviors ranging from textbook to strange (consider the impassiveness of the three explorers in the face of the disastrous avalanche that traps them underground).

The film’s art direction is dominated by bare-bones sets and continued recycling of the same painted passageways. As for the makeup, it needs to be said that the not-very-special makeup of the mole men in several scenes threatens to spoil even that tiny shred of scientific realism that Dr. Baxter – the University professor who provides the film’s introduction – desperately tries to confer on the absurd adventure.

The opening title sequence is cool, with the actors’ names rising up out of a crater. Those who look back with nostalgia at avant-garde sci-fi might find the film to their liking if they’re willing to excuse the massive dose of naiveté that runs through it. Everyone else should refrain from seeing it.