History Film / TheMolePeople

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Adad is barefoot for the entire film, except at the end when she's given a pair of boots.

*** It wasn't two minutes. It might have been hours or a whole day. The sacrifices went into the chamber and were exposed to sunlight for a long time, and then their bodies were removed when it was night on the surface.

* ArtisticLicenseGeology: The archaeologists mention that the Sumerian city is beneath "The Flood Layer", the worldwide layer of flood gravel that was laid down by Noah's Flood (or, perhaps, [[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Utnapishtim's Flood]], as the Sumerians would have known it. There is no such single worldwide layer of flood gravel, a fact that the 19th-century geologists who were very much looking for it were horrified to discover.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The film's Sumerians worship Ishtar, who was an Akkadian goddess. The historical Sumerians' equivalent deity was called Inanna. Given the film's Sumerians have been underground since centuries before the Akkadian language became widespread in Mesopotamia, they shouldn't even be familiar with the name "Ishtar."

* CharacterFilibuster: Agar

''The Mole People'' is a 1956 black-and-white sci-fi movie starring John Agar and Hugh Beaumont as archaeologists searching for remnants of the Sumerian civilization. After a monologue by an English professor essentially LampshadeHanging that the movie is fiction, we're brought to unspecified Asia (probably the Himalayas) where the search is ongoing.

Unfortunately, an earthquake destroys the oldest extant record, but lo! The earthquake has also dislodged a fresh relic which a Sherpa boy dutifully brings the heroes.

* ArtisticLicenseGeology: The archaeologists mention that the Sumerian city is beneath "The Flood Layer", the worldwide layer of flood gravel that was laid down by Noah's Flood. There is no such single worldwide layer of flood gravel, a fact that the 19th-century geologists who were very much looking for it were horrified to discover.

* DragonWithAnAgenda: The high priest distrusts the archaeologists from the very beginning (rightly pointing out that it is not they specifically who wield the "fire of Ishtar", but rather their flashlight). The King, though, totally buys into the act, making the priest the primary villain for most of the film.

* NeutralFemale: Adad. Possibly justified in that she has been a slave all her life and only knows to do what others tell her, even when Bently repeatedly tells her she's "free" to do as she wishes.

* SecondaryCharacterTitle: The mole people only have a minor role in the film, but hey, it gives something impressively scary for the movie poster to get those kids' fannies in the seats, huh?
* SuddenDownerEnding: Adad and Bently reach the surface, escaping Sumeria's destruction. Adad runs back for no good reason, gets crushed by a falling pillar, cue credits.

--> "No, light that's just slightly brighter than what we're used to!"

* ArtisticLicenseGeology: The archaeologists mention that the Sumerian city is beneath "The Flood Layer", the worldwide layer of flood gravel that was laid down by Noah's Flood. There is no such single worldwide layer of flood gravel, a fact that the 19th-Century geologists who were very much looking for it were horrified to discover.

For the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' version, please go to the [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E03TheMolePeople episode recap page]].

** One of the archaeologists notes that the Sumerians have lost all their pigment after millennia underground. Yet the women [[spoiler:who are to be sacrificed]] have black hair.[[note]]Also, there’s no way how a fungus-based diet could work without photosynthesis.[[/note]]

The heroes, along with assistant Lafarge and a couple guides, head for the top of a huge mountain, where they find a ruined city. Unfortunately, disaster strikes and one guide plummets through a trap door to his death. To rescue him, everyone heads into the chasm opened up, but the rappelling process leads to another death and a cave-in.

* TheLoad: Lafarge is an alternate TropeNamer. Later in the movie, he manages to graduate to TheMillstone status. [[spoiler:Posthumously.]]
* TheMillstone: The GodGuise is shattered when [[spoiler:the Sumerians find [=LaFarge's=] dead body]].

** One of the archaeologists notes that the Sumerians have lost all their pigment after millennia underground. Yet the women [[spoiler:who are to be sacrificed]] have black hair.
%%** Also, there’s no way how a fungus-based diet could work without photosynthesis.

* DownerEnding: Only because of ExecutiveMeddling (See below).

* ExecutiveMeddling: Adad's sudden death is a result of this. Despite being played by a white actress (a blonde, no less), the character was Sumerian - i.e., not white - and if she had gone home with Bentley, that would have meant an interracial marriage. [[ValuesDissonance This of course could not be allowed]].

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The film gets it right when Beaumont says that creatures living in low-light areas develop near-albinism and extreme light sensitivity. However, that doesn't explain why two minutes' exposure to sunlight makes them look like overcooked beef jerky. (For that matter, there had to be SOME form of lighting present or else the modern characters wouldn't have been able to function.)

** Also, there’s no way how a fungus-based diet could work without photosynthesis.

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: The archaeologists often intervene on the Mole People's behalf whenever the Sumerians are punishing or mistreating them. In the climax, when the heroes are locked in the 'oven of Ishtar', the Mole People attempt to rescue them (they fail, but they did try).

* TheLoad: Lafarge is an alternate TropeNamer. Later in the movie, he manages to graduate to TheMillstone status. [[spoiler:Postumously.]]

* MrExposition: Agar again