this be one shoddy piece of work . not hateful and because it doesn not actively promote antisocial behavior and and not bad enough to be unintentionally amuse either . it a straightforward attempt to cobble together a cheap movie and while put no time or effort into it and and draw in enough patron to make a profit . a handful of archaeologist and lead by john agar and be dig up and decode plaque with cuneiform write on them and though what we see bear no resemblance to any cuneiform that a sumerian might have see . the other scientist look over john agar shoulder while he read a particularly puzzling plaque and rattle off allusion to the gilgamesh epic . this prompt them to climb a mountain that look like k 2 in order to search for more clue . near the peak and an avalanche almost bury them and but it also expose a ruined sumerian city . so far and so typical of warner brother 1950s sf or fantasy flick and and not without interest . but then the ice break under the foot of one of the scientist and he plunge into a hole so deep that agar and peering in behind his flashlight and can not see the bottom . i ask you the experienced mountain climber what would you do under these circumstance . a member of your team have fall into what appear to be a bottomless pit . here what they do . with no more than a flashlight and a bit of climb equipment and one by one and they lower themselves hundred of foot into the black pit with no way of get back up except by hoist themselves hand over hand . how john agar expect to do that be leave unexplained never mind chunky nestor paiva . the handful of middle age men find their colleague dead body . nobody bother to mourn or comment on the loss . they do not have much time anyway because and before you know it and they discover a lost civilization of pale sumerian who live on mushroom and except for one beautiful babe ( cynthia patrick and the best actor in the bunch ) who look reasonably human and have something resemble a tan . the sumerian king assign her to be agar consort . when agar retires and she go with him and he must gently fend her off because and after all and he a man of principle . it turn out that the sumerian decide all their visitor must die but they be afraid of the fire of ishtar and mean the flashlight . but why go on . it deteriorate into one of edgar rice burroughs half schizophrenic novel . tarzan go to mar and or something . lot of scene of beastly half hominid labor among the lava pit and be whip by their sumerian master . sumerian soldier chase the archaeologist wave sword but be hold back by the fire of ishtar . i do not know how it end . i own the dvd and i can not bring myself to finish watch it . i really try to find it ridiculous enough to raise a smile but i couldn not generate any feeling except a fierce boredom . it hard to imagine that this be intend to be see by anyone over the age of nine or ten .