The Mole People (1956)

While excavating sites in Asia, a group of archaeologists (John Agar, Hugh Beaumont, Nestor Paiva) find evidence of a civilization living deep in the bowels of Earth. Descending into a deep tunnel, they discover a lost race of Sumerians. Directed by Virgil Vogel, this piece of science fiction seemed awesome when I was 10 years old but viewed as an adult, it's just silly and the nostalgia factor isn't enough to overlook how dumb it is. Even with a short running time of one hour and 17 minutes, it seems padded. It starts with a rather ludicrous prologue with a professor from USC spouting off some inane trivia about hollow earth theories and it takes forever for the doltish archaeologists to discover the Sumerian civilization as they wander around the dark tunnels. Wooden actors like Agar and Beaumont don't help much and it isn't until Alan Napier as a Sumerian priest shows up that we get some kitsch. With Cynthia Patrick and Rodd Redwing.