The Terror of Tiny Town (1938)

Director:

Sam Newfield

Writers:

Fred Myton (writer)
Clarence Marks (additional dialogue)

Release Date:

1 December 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Musical | Western

Tagline:

LIttle guys with big guns!

Plot:

An evil gunslinging midget comes to terrorize the good little people of Tiny Town. The townspeople organize to defeat him, and zany antics ensue

Plot Keywords:

Midget | Cult Favorite | Fist Fight | Feud | Surrealism

Cast

Billy Curtis	...	The Hero (Buck Lawson)
Yvonne Moray	...	The Girl (Nancy Preston)
'Little Billy' Rhodes	...	The Villain (Bat Haines) (as Little Billy)
Billy Platt	...	The Rich Uncle (Jim 'Tex' Preston) (as Bill Platt)
John T. Bambury	...	The Ranch Owner (Pop Lawson) (as John Bambury)
Joseph Herbst	...	The Sheriff
Charles Becker	...	The Cook (Otto)
Nita Krebs	...	The Vampire (Nita, the dance hall girl)
George Ministeri	...	The Blacksmith (Armstrong)
Karl 'Karchy' Kosiczky	...	The Barber (Sammy) (as Karl Casitzky)
Fern Formica	...	Diamond Dolly (as Johnnie Fern)
William H. O'Docharty	...	The Old Soak (as W.H. O'Docharty)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jed Buell's Midgets
Charles Swensen	...	The Preacher

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Newhall, California, USA

Company:

Jed Buell Productions

Trivia:

One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and how they got that way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the dwarves are playing their musical instruments, the guy playing the cello gets his bow stuck in the strings and has to fight like mad to get it out. But the music continues.

Quotes:

The Sheriff: I'm warnin' you, Tex. Don't start no trouble in town.
The Rich Uncle (Jim 'Tex' Preston): I don't want trouble. But I won't run away from it, either!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Johnny Suede (1991)

Soundtrack:

Laugh Your Troubles Away

Wow...

This movie is a cult classic. The main reason it is a classic, of course, is that the cast is made up entirely of little people (or midgets, as they were referred to back in the 1930's, when this movie was made.)

I can only imagine some bigwigs in Hollywood sitting around the boardroom table, and someone saying, "Hey...let's make a western musical with an all midget cast!" and everyone chiming in and saying, "Yeah, that's a great idea!". I mean, what were they thinking? Now let me start off by saying I have nothing at all against little people. But the premise for this movie is pretty bizarre. Was it meant to be serious, or taken as a joke? It is exploitation of the midget actors, making fun of them, or was it meant to be a serious attempt at a western musical, just starring little people? These questions go mainly unanswered.

I think the actors performed with all seriousness in their roles, even though it seems to me that the script was poking fun at them, having them ride miniature ponies (which is hilarious to see) and having them walk under normal size barroom doors and the like.

Other than the cast being made up entirely of little people, there is nothing to distinguish this movie from the hundreds of other westerns made during the 1930's...low budget, cheap sets, terrible acting and atrocious songs (The song, "The Wedding of Jack and Jill", is unintentionally a howler). I think everyone should see this movie at least once. It happens to be a part of a 20 movie DVD compilation put out by Mill Creek Entertainment entitled "Cult Classics". It has the notorious movies "Reefer Madness", "Cocaine Fiends", "Sex Mad" and "Terror of Tiny Town", as well as many others included in the set. Most of these movies are exploitation films of the thirties and they are a gas to watch.