Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The Mole People (Shout! Factory) Blu-ray Review

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • The Mole People (Shout! Factory) Blu-ray Review



    Released by: Shout! Factory
    Released on: February 26th, 2018.
    Directed by: Virgil W. Vogel
    Cast: John Agar, Hugh Beaumont, Nestor Paiva, Alan Napier, Cynthia Patrick
    Year: 1956
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Mole People - Movie Review:

    Dr. Roger Bentley (John Agar of Tarantula) leads a team of archeologists comprised of himself and associates Dr. Jud Bellamin (Hugh Beaumont of Leave It To Beaver fame!) and Professor Etienne Lafarge (Nestor Paiva of The Creature From The Black Lagoon). While out on their dig in the middle of nowhere near a mountain in Asia, they uncover evidence of the existence of an ancient Sumerian civilization made up of mutants that lived underneath a massive glacier back in the age of Mesopotamia - quite a find!

    Inquisitive as they are, they keep poking around and then eventually come across a race of albinos, seemingly deathly allergic to light in any form. These albinos have enslaved a race of mutant mole men and now command a veritable army of them! The archeologists are thought by these people to be gods, given that their flashlights are interpreted as cylinders of fire. They're given plenty of mushrooms to eat and a servant girl in the form of foxy Adad (Cynthia Patrick). High priest Elinu (Alan Napier) is none too keen on their arrival, however. But once Bentley and company decide that in order to set things right, they must free the mole men, the tide turns and they find themselves having to make a fast escape from this cavernous underground world!

    Every bit as goofy as it sounds, The Mole People is plenty entertaining in spite of itself. The cast all get credit for playing things completely straight. Alan Napier steals the scenes that he's in, playing the high priest as it this were Shakespeare, while John Agar, B-movie stalwart that he is, does tough and macho quite well, managing to do so without showing any actual range.

    A doctor named Dr. Frank C. Baxter plays himself in a wonky introductory scene that uses some sort of pseudo-science to pique our interest, but it's actually pretty dry and one of the duller aspects of the movie. Where the picture really gets fun is whenever the actual mole people are involved. The makeup and costume effects aren't great, but they're kind of neat in an old school way. Elinu's costume is kind of great too.

    Direction from Virgil W. Vogel, who mostly directed in television but who also edited Orson Welles' classic Touch Of Evil, is a bit stagey and things take a while to get moving but once they do, the seventy-seven-minute feature proves to be pretty entertaining in spite of itself.

    The Mole People - Blu-ray Review:

    The Mole People arrives on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory in your choice of 1.85.1 or 2.00.1 widescreen aspect ratios in AVC encoded 1080p high definition on a 50GB disc. Generally speaking, the picture quality here is pretty strong. There's some mild print damage noticeable throughout but nothing too serious or distracting. There's good detail here, solid depth as well. The black and white image shows proper contrast, never too hot, with good black levels. The image is free of obvious compression artifacts, edge enhancement and noise reduction.

    The DTS-HD English language Mono track on this disc is also fine. It's properly balanced and free of hiss and distortion. It is a bit on the flat side sometimes but for an older single channel mix from a low budget film, it's hard to complain about much here. Optional English subtitles are provided.

    Extras on this disc start off with an audio commentary featuring film historians Tom Weaver and David Schecter. These guys do a fine job of detailing the film's history, offering insight and historical background information on the cast and crew, effects, locations and more. Lots of talk here about what works and what doesn't, the track is delivered with some occasional humor but doesn't resort to lampooning the film. It's a good listen.

    Also new to this disc is Of Mushrooms and Madmen: The Making Of The Mole People, which runs just under nineteen-minutes in length. It's a nicely put together piece that details the history of the project and places it into the context of the B-grade sci-fi projects that were popular with Universal and other studios of the day.

    Also included is the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode that took on The Mole People from February 15th, 1997. Presented in standard definition, here's what Todd Jordan had to say about it when it was released as part of the Mystery Science 3000 Volume XXVI collection:

    “This time around they roast an old Universal monster movie starring John Agar (Shirley Temple's one-time husband) and Alan Napier (Alfred from tv's Batman). Archeologists find ruins on a mountaintop plus a deep dark hole that leads to a lost, underground city. That city is inhabited by pasty white folks and a “marked one” (you know, the girl different than everyone else), all of whom (at first) believe the archeologists are gods from the heavens. These fine white people have enslaved another race down there, with giant claws, glowing eyes and vagina-like mouths. The heroes soon become hunted and work to bust the slaves out of captivity, get the normal looking blonde lady out of there, and get to the surface.

    Although this one certainly has its moments, and it's entertaining throughout the running time, it lacks some good solid laughs found in the three other episodes in the set. It mostly just maintains a medium level of humor with a snicker here and there, but nothing too memorable. That's not to say it isn't a good one though, because it is. Just not among the top shelf. Most of the good jokes involve a useless older gentleman in the archeologist party, one the call “Load”.

    One of the great things about MST3K is the fact that the jokes are all over the map, and some references you get, some you don't. Five people watching the same episode might laugh at completely different things. The skits before, during, and after between Mike/Joel, Crow, and Tom Servo and the scientists making watch the movies are hit or miss (mostly miss in this viewer's eyes) and usually are themed after the movie playing. Once in a while they do something pretty darn funny (ape fashion show), but not in this volume.”

    Rounding out the extras are a few still galleries showing off some movie stills, posters and lobby cards, the film's original theatrical trailer, menus and chapter selection.

    The Mole People - The Final Word:

    The Mole People is, by all reasonable standards, a horrible film - but it's not without its considerable wacky charm, and those who appreciate said wacky charm should appreciate seeing it presented properly in a nice high definition presentation and with some decent extras as well.

    Click on the images below for full sized The Mole People Blu-ray screen caps!





























      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X