FightingWesterner The standard issue plot consists of the title villain rustling cattle and sparking a range war between two rival ranchers, who each suspect the other.This is the first and only all little person musical western film. Once the novelty wears off though, The Terror Of Tiny Town starts to look like a typical 1930's poverty row programmer, of which director Sam Newfield is strongly associated.Billy Curtis, who went on to co-star alongside Clint Eastwood in High Plains Drifter, makes an appealing hero. The musical numbers (some of which were dubbed) are well done and the climax is surprisingly good.The producers should have cast Mickey Rooney as a giant!

wes-connors Not surprisingly, when you put an all-midget cast in a "B" western, you get a "B" western starring midgets. There is a novelty appeal, which tapers off during the running time. It's like watching the "Little Rascals" all grown up (and guzzling beer). More lasting is watching the cast humorously maneuver around the not-so-tiny "Tiny Town". Although built smaller scale to make average western stars look bigger, the town is still way too big for little people. Handsome Billy Curtis (as Buck Lawson) makes a fine hero. He and pretty Yvonne Moray (as Nancy Preston) are a cute couple. Dastardly "Little Billy'" Rhodes puts up a good fight. Nita Krebs plays a sultry saloon singer, and Charles Becker amusingly tosses his cook's cap into the pot. Still, it's a cheap production.**** The Terror of Tiny Town (12/1/38) Sam Newfield ~ Billy Curtis, Yvonne Moray, 'Little Billy' Rhodes

tavm Okay, so I just watched this all-Midget (sorry, Little People) Western. Now, while I laughed at some of the way their sizes were exploited like when one fell carrying some boxes that blocked his face or when a townsperson drank a giant glass of beer (I think Jerry Maren played the latter by the way), overall I don't think this deserves the moniker of one of "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time" as implied in the book of that name. In fact, for the most part I was quite excited at the way the whole thing was filmed and liked many of the performances especially Billy Curtis as the Hero, Buck Lawson, and "Little Billy" Rhodes as the Villain, Bat Haines. They have a great fight scene at the climax. Yvonne Moray as the Heroine, Nancy Preston, and Nita Krabs as the Dance Hall Girl, Nita, who loves Bat are also good in their roles. And then there's Charles Becker as the Comic Relief, Otto the Cook, who has a pretty intentionally funny scene with a duck he's trying to kill as he tries to sweet talk him. The singing is wonderful, too, though hearing an obviously taller male voice coming out of Curtis' mouth was pretty strange especially in contrast to Ms. Murray's natural warbling voice after that. By the way, the only actual tall person that appears is in the beginning when an announcer steps from behind the curtain to introduce the Hero and Villain (with the requisite "boos" and "hiss"!) before the opening credits. So on that note, I'd recommend The Terror of Tiny Town to anyone who likes a good-old fashioned musical western starring talented little people.

Michael_Elliott 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.