AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Eric Stevenson This is a movie that really is just a standard Western, only with midgets. I think the main problem is that this really is the film's only selling point. There's really nothing unique about the story at all, other than that it features midgets. I have to admit that Westerns were never my thing. Then again, this may in fact be the oldest Western I've ever seen. I guess they started off pretty bizarre.I remember Cinema Snob reviewing this and joking that since the movie was only an hour long, everything about it was short. I can't make that joke again. I don't think it's offensive to midgets, seeing as how they seem to have willingly starred in this movie. I wonder where they got all the small ponies? There's just nothing of substance at all. It's weird to watch and there's nothing rewarding about it. *1/2

Cosmoeticadotcom The Terror Of Tiny Town is not a classic, nor even that good. The Shetland pony riding is rough, the singing (especially by Buck- it's dubbed) is rougher, and the 'small' jokes roughest, but the film is enjoyable. It's not a 'so bad it's good' film, but it is a cute film that never takes itself seriously, and as anyone who has read my criticism before knows, pretense is the ultimate killer. The acting is not good, and the screenplay loaded with mediocre dialogue, but, on the positive side, there are a few moments when one is sucked into the film's world; the best example being when Bat and his gang try to rob the stagecoach that brings Nancy to town. After Buck and his boys chase off the bad guys, Buck goes to stop the runaway stage (again, not exactly original), and there is some genuine serial-level excitement. Not bad for a gimmick film, and certainly something that lifts the film up beyond mere exploitation. Also, while most film fare at this level- think The Beast Of Yucca Flats or Santa Claus Conquers The Martians- are loaded with many moments a viewer says, 'That makes no sense,' from a logical standpoint. There are no such moments like that in the narrative, although there are throwaway bizarrenesses, like the appearance of the penguin, or Otto's pursuit of the duck, or why a blacksmith's horse, about to be shoed, is the only normal sized horse in the film, when others are Shetland ponies, and the odd breaks into song. That all said, it is amusing, it is guileless, it is sweet, and it is utterly unpretentious (from its opening 'intro,' to its cartoonish credits, to its almost Harold Lloydian ending). There are far better movies, and there are many worse films. The Terror Of Tiny Town, though, is a film that any fan of the medium should see, at least once, if for no other reason than its utter uniqueness in film history, especially contrasted against so many other western musicals of its day. It may not have many, but it does have charms.

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

classicsoncall Since adding the Encore Western Channel to my cable TV lineup I've been overdosing on that particular genre, so I thought I'd take a break to check out a four disc, twenty movie DVD package I picked up from Mill Creek Entertainment. It's called 'Cult Classics', and the title that immediately called out to me was "Terror Of Tiny Town". Wouldn't you know it, the darn thing turned out to be a midget Western. No, not a short feature, but a movie with an all midget cast! It came out the same year as another novelty Western featuring an all Black cast called "Two Gun Man From Harlem".The principle is pretty much the same here. Take your standard 'B' oater, pit your white hat hero against a dastardly villain, and populate it with nothing but midget actors. What's sort of cool in the story is the early misdirection which seems to implicate Tex Preston (Billy Platt) as a cattle rustler before it's revealed there's a third party villain working the Preston's against the Lawson's. Bat Haines (Little Billy Rhodes) is as nasty a villain as you'll find in any John Wayne, Roy Rogers or Durango Kid picture, even to the tune of keeping the local sheriff in his pocket.The hero of the piece, Buck Lawson is played by Billy Curtis in his very first film role. Obviously he caught someone's eye to recommend casting him as the mayor of Munchkin Land in 1939's "Wizard of Oz", from there going on to a rather prodigious movie career. Western fans will note the resemblance between the young Curtis in 'Tiny Town' and the sixty four year old actor who was made mayor of Lago by The Stranger in "High Plains Drifter". To his credit, Curtis did his best to stay away from roles that denigrated little people, and did a credible job here.Still, it's hard watching the picture not to crack up every now and then over inadvertently funny scenes like the midget cowboys riding on their Shetland ponies, or walking into a saloon under the swinging door. The movie opted to drift back and forth between a normal adult size world and a miniature one to achieve different effects; the scene I thought was exceptional was the one that played out with the runaway stagecoach built to little people scale. Some of the goofier scenes involved pint size singers whose voices were obviously dubbed."The Terror of Tiny Town" won't make anyone's best films list, but you know, it really shouldn't be on anyone's worst list either. Take it with a grain of salt and you'll probably be entertained. A couple questions need answering though. Why was that penguin in the middle of the movie? And if a regular cowboy fires a six-shooter, does a midget use a three-shooter?