Sadly Over-hyped

Good concept, poorly executed.

A Masterpiece!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

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.

This film is a genuine novelty. The film has been put together as a straightforward B-Western as produced in the late 1930s. It appears to have been filmed on the same locations as dozens of other B-Westerns, with a stock, wall-to-wall music score. The difference is when you see and hear the players. This takes a few minutes to get used to, but once you are into it, you start to get caught up in the story and don't even notice the fact that the entire cast is made up of "little people". The acting in this ranges from fair to good, and the direction is as good as in any Roy Rogers or Gene Autry opus. This is not a bad little film and well worth your time if you are in the mood for something different.

One wonders who thought this would be a great idea--a western done straight with all midgets. Plot-wise this is like any other B western--two neighboring ranchers suspect each other of rustling their cattle. The Hero (that's how he's billed in the cast--Billy Curtis) of one ranch falls in love with the Girl (Yvonne Moray) of the other ranch! And the Villain (Little Billy) tries to frame the Hero.The plot is as old as the hills and every single Western cliché is firmly in place. Also there are songs! The movie opens with the entire town singing a nauseating song about how happy they are! There's there's a saloon vamp (Nita Krebs) who squeaks out a few more (and very badly too). The acting is truly horrendous and (cinematically speaking) this movie is worthless. After the initial novelty of the midgets wears off this is pretty lame stuff. Still it moves quick and is only about an hour long. Also there are some good action scenes--if you can get past the midgets riding ponies instead of horses! I give this a 3 because it does have its moments and you have to admire the fact that the whole movie is played straight.

it's surprising to me how much this movie gets ripped on saying it is an exploitation of little people. honestly, this is a classic western story; good guy in white, bad guy in black. it wasn't made as a comedy, but is it funny? yes it can be, for the novelty of it. is it a blockbuster? now, just an average 'B' western from the 30's, but definitely worth watching at least once.i enjoy this movie not because it exploits anyone, but that they did go to great detail to make a story, a drama with an all midget cast. these are the same little people that were in the "Wizard of Oz", so they got to do a classic kind of film. this unique type of movie is one that will never be copied or re-done due to peoples stereotypes, it's an original.I'm not saying it's some masterpiece, but it is definitely worth seeing once!