The Terror of Tiny Town

Terror of Tiny Town (1938)

Directed by: Sam Newfield

Runtime: 62 minutes

Starring: Billy Curtis, Yvonne Moray, “Little Billy” Rhodes, Billy Platt

From: Jed Buell Productions

Here is a movie that is in the public domain (although oddly enough, the full movie can’t easily be found online, as many public domain flicks are) and it’s something that you may have heard of, due to its rather bizarre nature. You see, it’s a musical western… and the cast is full of midgets! No kidding. By the way, I mean no offense by using that term rather than “little people”, as that was the term used back then. It’s a standard plot where a villain (Rhodes) plays two sides against each other for his own gain, and the hero (Curtis) also has a thing for the girl in the family that his family is feuding against (Moray).

The main thing to note is that while a few things is sized for the small cast, such as the Shetland ponies (!) that they ride, it’s otherwise a normal-sized world they populate, so it just looks so strange seeing them walk around and look so tiny and fire revolvers that are huge for their stature*. That makes it so surreal to watch. Then, the acting and songs are average at best, to be kind. So, it was a rather strange movie-I mean, I swear to God, you briefly get to see A PENGUIN... a penguin, in the Old West!-to watch and I can’t say it was “good” by any means, but it was something I’ve heard about for years so I’m glad I finally got to see it; it was part of this DVD collection I purchased awhile back. I found it at a store and believe me, it was far less than the price Amazon is offering!

* It wasn't in any "midget town", that's for sure.

By the way, this link has some more info on the film, and this link offers a full plot review.

I'll be back next Monday with at least one new review.