The Terror of Tiny Town (1938)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

THE TERROR OF TINY TOWN enjoys something of a cult reputation as one of the "worst films ever made" and is notorious for being a musical western enacted solely by dwarf actors (or midgets, as they're credited in the opening titles). However, this isn't that bad at all; it comes across as a distinctly average but mildly enjoyable western with the added novelty of having the entire cast populated by dwarf actors.It's fair to say that the acting isn't a strong point here, but the dwarfs certainly are enthusiastic performers and you can't fault their efforts in that respect. The musical scenes fare less well due to the high pitched nature of the voices, but the cattle rustling plot is more interesting and there's even a little romance to be enjoyed here. THE TERROR OF TINY TOWN is a unique film, yes, but in many ways it's all rather predictable and ordinary for the era. There are far, far worse films out there too.

This film isn't that original. It's your typical 1930s style Western musical of the singing cowboy variety from director Sam Newfield. The story is pretty dull for the most part. Two ranchers are heading toward a range war when an outlaw, Bat Haines (Billy Rhodes) begins playing the two cattle barons against each other. The outlaw is stealing cattle from both ranches, but framing the neighboring rancher, for the theft. Standing in the way of the war are two lovers, Buck Lawson (Billy Curtis) & Nancy Preston (Yvonne Moray) from opposites ranches who are trying to find out who is at the bottom of the cattle rustling and why. Can Buck & Nancy solve the crime or will Tiny Town, be destroy for good? Watch the movie if you want to find out! Without spoiling the movie, too much, I found the story to be, very dull and generic. It's pretty much, William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet in a Western settling, without the suicides. What makes the film special, however, is the gimmick of its all-midget cast. Being the world's first movie with all-dwarf cast, this movie really does stand out, compare to other films from that era. This movie is a little get together for the performing troupe, Singer's Midgets, whom are best known for playing the Munchkins in 1939's The Wizard of Oz. Using a conventional Western story, director Sam Newfield was able to showcase somewhat funny gags such as cowboys entering the local saloon by walking under the swinging doors, and dwarf cowboys galloping around on Shetland ponies while roping calves. Still, the movie kinda fell short on the laughs. While, the movie might seem a bit belittling toward dwarfs, by making fun of them. It was made with a lot of love. Some of the jokes weren't about their stature. There were a set of cartoony jokes with Otto the cook, (Charles Becker) trying to capture a goose. It remind me, so much of a live-action, Loony Toons cartoon. The movie even, took the time to be serious with its subject matter, at times. The love story between the hero and the girl was very charming. The movie has a lot of sex appeal, with actress Nita Krebs playing a Vamp dance girl singer. For a dwarf actress, she was pretty beautiful. To see, her get punch in the face, by the villain was pretty shocking at the time. I was really surprised, to see man on girl violence in a western musical. There are plenty of dwarf characters that get shot or killed, throughout the film. There were some action scenes where audiences get to see the hero duke it out with the villain. I really wanted to see the hero triumph in the end. There were plenty of dramatics to even the comical. In this age of political correctness, this movie might seem very offensive to modern little people, but back then, this B-western period was market as must-see. At least, producer Jed Buell thought so. He planned to make a series of films featuring dwarfs after the success of The Terror of Tiny Town. He was reportedly planned to use the same cast in a film version of the story of Paul Bunyan, with a large gentleman playing Bunyan, but when the film bomb at the box office. All of those plans was cut short. I don't blame, 1930's audiences for not seeing this film. Once the novelty of seeing midgets wears off, the film isn't really special. The acting isn't that great, with their thick German accents with somewhat childish voices. They talk as if they were in helium. They deliver lines, so bad, it looks like they're reading off, cue cards. The few songs in it are meh, but not memorable, nor well-sung. To be honest, I think some of the 'dwarf' actors might actually be average-sized children. I really having doubt, when some of actors look pretty damn young. Some things that I didn't like, about the film is the way that the movie opens. It opens on a stage, with a narrator telling us, that we're watching a film with a midget cast. No Duh. I also hate seeing, a film break the fourth wall, just to remind us, that we're watching a film. Another thing, I hate about the film is how the characters had no names, when the film first came out. It wasn't until later, releases, the filmmakers put names to make it easier to tell them apart. Other things, worth nitpicking about, is how the town is call 'Tiny Town', yet everything in that town is normal size or how there is a random scene with a penguin. Overall: While, the movie is full of film filling, the 60 minute runtime was alright for a size like this. I did had a "rootin, tootin, shootin" good time, watching this film.

Prolific B-movie director Sam Newfield helmed this serviceable outdoors oater "The Terror of Tiny Town" with a cast completely consisting of vertically challenged tykes. Actually, this musical western is the first all-midget cowboy musical done during the era of the singing cowboys. Bat Haines ('Little Billy' Rhodes) pits two ranches against each other so they will wipe each other out and he can step in to pick up the pieces. Buck admits that he is the bad guy. "I'm the villain. I'm the toughest hombre that ever lived, and I ain't afraid o' the biggest one o' you. I'm the Terror of Tiny Town, and that's the star part." Good guy cowboy Buck Lawson (Billy Curtis of "High Plains Drifter") is the hero who saves the day. The romantic interest, Nancy Preston (Yvonne Moray) meets Buck when he pulls over the runaway stagecoach that she was riding in after Bat's gunslingers killed Peter the driver and the Wells Fargo shotgun messenger. Bat is a thoroughly obnoxious outlaw who has no qualms against shooting down anybody and he bushwhacks Nancy's father, Tex (Billy Platt) as he is riding across a pasture. Bat implicates Buck for the killing of Tex and coerces the local sheriff to arrest him. Entertaining and offbeat fun, even though there are several murders. The finale is appropriately explosive!

Terror of Tiny Town, The (1938) ** (out of 4) Standard Western has become a cult favorite as all the characters are played by midgets. The film has a rival family beginning to feud after each has some cattle stolen. What neither side knows is that a third party is behind it trying to have to two families kill one another off so he can take their land. If that storyline sounds familiar that's because dozens, if not hundreds, of westerns used it for a story. That's the biggest problem here because most people are going to walk into this expecting some sort of strange film but the only strange thing about it is the cast are midget. Storywise this isn't anything John Wayne and countless others were doing at the time. The gimmick of using midgets is a double sided sword because it certainly makes the film original but at the same time the performances are rather weak and this goes against the story. The only thing that comes off as real campy is a silly cook who is constantly getting in the middle of things. His highlight, as well as the film's, is a scene where he tries to catch a duck for dinner. Sam Newfield wasn't a stranger to these low-budget movies and he actually does a fairly decent job here considering what he had to work with. There's a nice fight scene and the movie moves pretty fast for its hour running time. The main draw here is seeing the midgets ride tiny ponies and acting like normal Western stars. If that doesn't sound like strange entertainment then you'd be better off skipping this thing. At the same time, don't expect anything too far out because we've got your basic Romeo and Juliet type story.