The Terror of Tiny Town (1938)

Small world…

If you’re reading this, chances are you either know an eccentric movie buff or are a cinematic voyeur being inexplicably drawn to seeking out the weirdest and narrowest films out there. Welcome to The Terror of Tiny Town.

Let me start off by saying that I’ve seen this film six times so far and only at this point have I been able to grasp its relatively simple plot. There are some good guys, some bad guys and a lovely little (the punning has begun!) lady caught right smack in the middle. That’s about it. Stuff happens and someone goes out victoriously, as often happens in movies.

The movie opens on a stage where an announcer presents the movie while holding the hero and the villain apart. It underlines how this movie is meant as a novelty to a 1930s audience. They present it as rather humorous with tongue firmly in-cheek, but I’m unsure and curious about how the participants experienced it.

The first text that appears during the opening credits read: “Astor Pictures presents Jed Buell’s Midgets.” Does Jed Buell own them? Just look:

This is followed by the title; “The Terror of Tiny Town – with an all midget cast.” And this again is followed by “The midgets” and a list of the characters. Not starring or list of characters, but MIDGETS if you still haven’t gotten it. Yes, times sure have changed.

The Terror of Tiny Town isn’t exactly an artistic triumph, but rather your run-of-the-mill western with an all midget cast. The acting, dialogue, cinematography, editing and music are all pretty unremarkable. Billy Curtis playing the hero Buck Lawson makes a rather charismatic role though. He can also be seen in The Wizard of Oz, High Plains Drifter and Eating Raoul to name but a few of the movies he’s appeared in.

Is The Terror of Tiny Town worth viewing? Definitely! This is a surrealist film. Plenty of questions are sure to enter your head as you watch it. Does the movie exist in a universe where everyone is shorter or have they just made their own tiny town? If this is indeed a smaller world it probably wouldn’t be called tiny town. Questions and random thoughts like that will grow inside you and leave you puzzled.

Now why should you watch this?

-        The cast. They’re little guys with big guns!

-        They ride ponies. Really cute ponies.

-        The fact that this isn’t a big budget production.

-        When we can see that this is a low budget production, like when they enter the saloon. The swing doors are at the same height as their foreheads and they’re basically giving the door a high-five.

     Seeing the little guy drinking a large beer in one sip. Respect!

-       Because dwarfs LOVE to sing. This makes me wonder about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which came out the previous year. Was there an increasing interest in dwarfs as a result of that movie? Did director Sam Newfield use that film as research material for this one?

-       The butch blacksmith.

-       The eccentric cook and his efforts to capture and kill Fritz the goose. He’s a crafty motherfucker!

-       Bad moustaches and beards.

-       The two men required to play the cello.

-       There is a penguin in it. Because this movie wasn’t strange enough already. Perhaps it was to compare sizes? I'm just speculating.

-       Because someone came up with the idea of making this movie and actually followed it through.

-       The most thrilling shoot-out on ponies that you have ever seen!

-        And last but not least the big dwarf fight at the end. That’s a couple of hard men right there!

The Terror of Tiny Town isn’t a very memorable film in itself, but as a curiosity it’s well worth tracking down, if only so you can say that you’ve seen it. Spend 61 minutes of your life to watch this. A planned sequel titled Hang ‘Em Not So High never materialized, which surely would have deserved a place as one of the greatest movie titles ever!

6/10