The Mole People : whats up with the ending?

whats up with the ending?

whats the point of having the girl die at the end? just seemed silly and tacked on for no real reason.

Re: whats up with the ending?

I've read that in those days, much of Hollywood would not approve of an interracial romance ending happily (she's Sumerian, although looking more Caucasian, and was) and he's Euro-American. So they had to kill her off. Yet that ending actually goes against most of the period's standard happy ending ("The Incredible Shrinking Man" 1957 is another example), making this stand out.

Re: whats up with the ending?

Except 'shrinking man's' ending was good and this wasn't. I would have preferred a happy ending with the hero and the girl living happily ever after, because this made no sense at all.

Re: whats up with the ending?

You seem to be correct. I understand Cynthia Patrick years later gave an interview in which she stated that the original ending had her and the two male stars walking off the mountain together. Believe it or not, an executive got his panties into a bunch worrying about the miscegenation implications of this ending and the three actors were called back for a reshoot in which Patrick is rather casually and pointlessly killed off.

It seems too incredible to be true, but apparently is.

Re: whats up with the ending?

I thought the ending was stupid. Too bad the movie isn't available with the alternate ending.

Re: whats up with the ending?

I thought the ending was stupid, too. However, I thought they were trying to bury all evidence of the sumerians so it would be hard for anybody to believe them since the mountain was extremely treacherous to climb. All the two guys had left at the end of the movie was a story; nothing to bring back and show the shirpas and everybody what they found.

signed,
"Buy breasts where you work or bank!"

Re: whats up with the ending?

All the two guys had left at the end of the movie was a story; nothing to bring back and show the shirpas and everybody what they found That's all they would have had anyhow. The woman would not have been taken seriously if she had spoken of her life below. The ending was very stupid and pointless.

Re: whats up with the ending?

You guys all miss the big themes of the movie with your shallow assessments of the ending. This society was guilty of slavery, intolerance, and a pre-Christian pagan religion that used human sacrifice. These people were an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. They needed to be wiped off the face of the Earth. They should've been destroyed by the great flood, and were living on borrowed time.

ALL traces of this civilization needed to be erased, even the girl at the end, sadly.

Re: whats up with the ending?

But they spent the entire movie establishing she was different from the others, genetically (i.e. via inheritance) as well as morally. They wouldn't have done that if they intended for her the same fate as the others - they could have had her heroically sacrifice herself underground if that's what they wanted.

And the idea various people have been pushing here that the moviemakers wanted no evidence left at the end of the story also fails - they've got the entire above-ground complex to excavate (which the film could have portrayed as being obliterated in the final quake, but didn't) and if people are going to excavate that they might as well go spelunking down a few hundred feet to check out the rest of the civilization.

Re: whats up with the ending?

Was she morally different? She couldn't even grasp the concept that she was "free" and not a slave. I think if she had white pastie skin, she would be the same as the rest. She had the same values as the rest of the people in her society. The fact that she was physically different only opened her up to new ways of thinking, it doesn't mean she was morally different.

Re: whats up with the ending?

I really hope your post aren't serious. So what, the whole repenting and instant forgiveness thing wouldn't work for her? She had to be killed in your narrow view instead of baptism and getting a clean slate?

As far as being a slave and failing to grasp the concept of being free, there are stories from the Civil War of slaves who continued to live on the plantation because they knew no other life.

I'm going to just make an assumption and take the point of view that these post Xnet95 are parody and nothing more.

And if they aren'twell, it doesn't speak well of our society that people such as yourself are out there.

"I leave Symbols to the Symbol minded" George Carlin

Re: whats up with the ending?

Thanks for judging me, you must be a Christian. I'll try to live up to your expectations in my next life.

Re: whats up with the ending?

What a crock. The ending was originally the girl living. A studio exec was worried about interracial marriage so they had to change it so she died. None of that existential bull you came up with had anything to do with it.

Re: whats up with the ending?

Calm down and go to the Trump rally. It'll soothe your deplorably closed mind

Re: whats up with the ending?

Trump rally? Why would I do that? The guy's disgusting. I think that's more up your alley.

Re: whats up with the ending?

Destroying the underground city seems to be par for "lost world" movies. Most of them seem to end with a volcano or something wiping them out. Kong is an exception, but they fixed that in the sequel.

As for the woman, it may be the miscegenation issue. But there also seems to be an element in lost world movies that the protagonist loses any evidence of his adventure. As others have pointed out, no one would have believed her story anyway

typical ending for 'what if?' movie

I thought her death was rather typical for two reasons: she was the last proof they had of the lost world so her death made their story unprovable (that's how movies dealt with impossible stories before "Blair Witch" type flicks), as well as creating a heart-break ending.

Re: whats up with the ending?

Films like these often destroy the lost worlds that they discover and that usually means leaving no survivors. Additionally, when you have a beautiful and untainted woman from another world, she usually dies as well. So yeah, I expected that she might be gratiutously killed off at the end for a token sense of tragedy or because a relationship with someone like her is something too good to be true. When they made it out alive, I thought she was in the clear. When she was killed off, I thought it was stupid. When I read the reason behind it, that really annoyed me.

Because she has Sumarian ancestry, she's killed off to prevent them from becoming an interracial couple? I mean, what the hell is that? I know that, in the segregated southern US, films were banned which featured such themes. Was that the issue or was the producer that much of a racist? I mean, if the former was the case, couldn't they have northern and southern distribution versions? It certainly wouldn't be the first film to do that. In the case of the latter, all I can say is that I'm disappointed.

Re: whats up with the ending?

They killed her off because they wanted the end to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Agar and Beaumont. Little known fact they were planning on making a number of sequels that would have turned Agar into that era's Indiana Jonesokay that's a load of crap. Funny idea though.

"We're actors, we're the opposite of people!" -The Player

Re: whats up with the ending?

Kicking off an Indiana Jones-esque series with a trip to the world of the Mole Men would be kind of a fun idea. It beats hiding in the refrigerator to escape from nuclear explosions.

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Re: Whats up with the ending?

On the subject of Lucy and Desi, the two of them went on a cross country comedy tour before I Love Lucy was greenlit because the producers weren't sure that Americans would accept Lucy having a Cuban husband.

And, of course, the show would go on to be one of the most iconic series in television history.

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Re: Creflo Dollar comment

I take it their account was banned. What did they say?

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Re: Whats up with the ending?

Re-watching this scene, it is kind of funny how she runs into position. The first column misses her, so she runs to the spot where the second one is teetering as if getting into position to be killed off. She's like "Sorry boys, this scene calls for me to die."

It really, really is a stupid ending. She looked great in those goggles though.

Re: Whats up with the ending?

Guess she was having brain freeze. Her feet were bare in the snow til they found their gear that had been left behind. Blame the running helter skelter on the cold.

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Re: whats up with the ending?

@Oneworlder: IKR?

Since they ending was changed due to racist people, they could have explained her death better. My only guess is that she felt her people were dying (some psychic thing) and it caused her to lose her mind.

http://www.cgonzales.net & http://www.drxcreatures.com

Re: whats up with the ending?

Remember "South Pacific" when Europeans and Polynesians together was a terrible thing?

Re: whats up with the ending?

With all the unpleasant wickedness of the ruling people,I was hoping for a happy ending,with as many being saved as possible.The ending stunk,and was a big letdown.

Re: whats up with the ending?

When I first saw the final scene, I had the impression the earthquake rumblings scared her and she instinctively ran toward the only home she ever knew, in panic. I even wondered if she killed herself because she was afraid of the culture shock she was going to encounter by leaving Mole City. Certainly a very unexpected ending. I've been wanting to see this movie for decades, finally found it on Youtube. Compared to other B-movies similar to this, it was a little clunky and dull in spots, but it certainly had some good merits too.

Re: whats up with the ending?

If you're reading the IMDB MB for The Mole People, then you're probably a Fifties Sci-Fi/Horror dork like me. I watched Sci-Fi/Horror/Fantasy movies on B&W UHF channels when I was a kid in the late sixties/early seventiespicture me rotating a metal UHF hoop in 3-D trying desperately to get channel 56 because Beyond the Time Barrier was on at 4:30PM. How did I know that it was on at 4:30PM? Because my mom had bought the local B&W newspaper, listing TV offerings for that week's line-up, for me and my brother. Thanks Mom.

There was CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, and the 3 UHF channels that offered the actual programming that my brother and I wanted. Back then, we had to wait a whole week to see The Monolith Monsters, Target Earth, Kronos, The Thing from Another World, or The Mole People, and it was worth the wait.

The Ending: I remember vividly my brother and I being very upset that Adal bit the dust in the last minute of The Mole People, and we were only in third and fifth grade respectively. She was thoughtful, kind, generous, giving, and very beautiful. It was a jolt to the philosophical perspective that the good are rewarded, and the bad are punished. I've never forgotten it.

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Go Go Gojira!

Re: whats up with the ending?

I think she had a little bit of Nostradamus in her and saw how bad John Agar's film career was going to getrunning under the pillar and dying was a better option than having to be with him.

Re: whats up with the ending?

John Agar's ghost would be proud of his achievements The Mole People, Attack of the Puppet People, Revenge of the Creature, and Tarantula! John Agar is immortal, and his fantastic silver-screen performances will outlive us. :)

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Go Go Gojira!

Re: whats up with the ending?

well said spizzmore mmust be in jr high

suzycreamcheese RIP Heath Ledger 1979-2008

Re: whats up with the ending?

I more than agree. IMO, John Agar has some fantastic performances that will outlive us all. I hope that my progeny will appreciate his celluloid skill some day. I keep sneaking Revenge of the Creature and Attack of the Puppet People onto the venue for them.

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Go Go Gojira!

Re: whats up with the ending?

a post from 2012 sums the ending up for me


Watching this scene, it is kind of funny how she runs into position. The first column misses her, so she runs to the spot where the second one is teetering as if getting into position to be killed off. She's like "Sorry boys, this scene calls for me to die."




It was just WRONG how they played it !
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