--- In sonsofkong@yahoogroups.com, "Dean" <ripjagger@y...> wrote:
> My very first Ebay purchase showed up in the mail, and I'm pleased as
> punch!
>
> My mowing is done, and I'm going to spend the afternoon watching the
> movie "The Mole People" and then enjoying the fumetti version from the
> Famous Monsters folks. On first glance it looks excellent.
>
> I'll issue a review after.

Dean-

I bought the VHS tape of "The Mole People" a few years back when the
local MediaPlay was blowing out tapes to enlarge space for their DVD
section. This was before I had started to convert. Can't remember
what I paid for it. $10 maybe?

Anyhow, I really enjoyed the film. It had some neat stuff in it. The
scene where the heroes' guide falls, then gets it from a falling
boulder surpised me a lot, since I had more or less considered it as
basically a kiddie matinee feature from the 'innocent' 1950's. That
violence, though tame by today's standards, still shocked me a bit,
which was a good thing. The matte paintings of the subterranean city
were cool. Hey! that's 'Alfred the Butler' from TV's "Batman" as the
baddie! Cool!

And of course what film isn't automatically ratcheted up several
notches with sturdy John Agar at the helm?? He rocked. One of my
all-time fav sci-fi actors. He triumphed over some pretty lame
scripts, movies and monsters throughout his bumpy career - all with
that chisled jaw cocked in a sly, disarming smile.

The movie's ending was a bummer, and again, not what I was expecting
from a 50's monster flick. The letdown finale somehow sort of lifted
the movie to a level more with the 'serious' films of the era - for
me. Kind of cool that you felt for the hero while admiring him for
suriviving at the same time. The downbeat climax was far less
superficial and therfore more memorable thanthe traditional upbeat,
triumpahnt fanfare music, "hero conquers all" endings I am used to
seeing in 50's sci-fi. Nice touch.

Gee, all this talk makes me want to see it again. Maybe I'll watch
"The Mole People" while I eat lunch today!

I sincerely hope that Universal gets off their collective butts and
issues ALL of the great titles in their "Universal Pictures' Golden
Age of Science Fiction Thrilers" onto DVD, with quality transfers,
(and maybe even some extra goodies), like their recent excellent
"Legacy Collection" releases. Those DVDs were terrific, and very
reasonably priced, too. More of this, Universal!!!! (Please?!?!)

Later.
-JN