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:

The idea for the picture came about when producer Jed Buell overheard an employee of his production company, Spectrum Pictures, bemoaning the state of the film business and remarking that "if this economy doesn't turn around, we'll have to start making pictures with midgets". Buell loved the idea and put in motion what eventually became this film.

Goofs:

Continuity: Arriving at Preston's ranch, Haines ties his horse securely to the hitching rail. Leaving, a minute later, he mounts the now un-secured, untied horse.

Quotes:

The Hero (Buck Lawson): Dad, I jumped a bunch o' rustlers at work.
The Ranch Owner (Pop Lawson): Rustlers!
The Hero (Buck Lawson): They left in such a hurry, they forgot their branding iron.
The Ranch Owner (Pop Lawson): (examining iron) Cheap Work Pete!
The Hero (Buck Lawson): That's the way I read it.
The Ranch Owner (Pop Lawson): Why that low-down ki-yoat!

Movie Connections:

Edited into People Who Die Mysteriously in Their Sleep (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Mister Jack and Missus Jill

The strangest western ever made.

And that's a fact. Now, most 'B' westerns in the 30's were awful. They had bad acting, stale plots, and non-existent budgets. This film suffers from all of these things, but it's the midgets who really mess it up. You see, this film was supposed to be a novelty item in '38, and it still is, but the acting is even worse than a regular 'B' western. As if that wasn't enough, there's unfunny comedy throughout. All of this helps to detract from this films novelty. Not to mention that some of the 'midgets' look more like children, leading me to believe that the filmmakers couldn't find enough actors willing to make fun of themselves. A definite film oddity, worth a look out of curiosity, but nothing else.