The Terror of Tiny Town
About The Terror of Tiny Town
An average-height announcer starts the film and is interrupted by Buck Larson and Bat Haines arguing over who will be the biggest star. In the town, the Larson and Preston families are feuding. Bat rustles calves on Shetland ponies and plants a branding iron so the blame falls on the other ranch. Buck stops a stage robbery and falls for Nancy Preston. Bat kills her uncle Tex and frames Buck. Nancy gets help. At Bat's cabin the dancer Nita has planted dynamite. The cabin blows up as Bat tries to shoot Buck, and Buck and Nancy kiss.
Cast & crew
More about The Terror of Tiny Town
Sam Newfield directed. Jed Buell produced. Fred Myton wrote the screenplay, with additional dialogue by Clarence Marks. Mack Stengler photographed. Music credits name both Lew Porter and Edward Kilenyi. Principal Pictures put it out in July 1938. Columbia's release date is 1 December 1938. 62 minutes. Shot in a Hollywood sound studio and at Placeritos Ranch. Buell said the idea came from an employee joking that if the slump went on they would be using midgets as actors. The cast is actors with dwarfism, except the opening announcer.
Themes
Making
Buell spent $100,000 on a standard feud Western played by an all-dwarf cast, with the scale gags built into the sets and the ponies.
Look
Mack Stengler shot the ranch scenes at Placeritos Ranch and the interiors on a Hollywood sound stage.
Music
Lew Porter and Edward Kilenyi are both named on the music. The townspeople sing "Laugh Your Troubles Away."
Preservation
Prints are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- Billy Curtis plays Buck Lawson. Yvonne Moray plays Nancy Preston. Little Billy Rhodes plays Bat Haines. Billy Platt plays Tex Preston. John T. Bambury plays Pop Lawson. Nita Krebs plays the dancer Nita.
- Cowboys walk under the saloon doors, climb into cupboards, and ride Shetland ponies.
- Charlie Becker plays the cook Otto. Joseph Herbst plays the sheriff.
Scenes
- Riders go under the saloon doors instead of through them.
- Bat's gang ropes calves from Shetland ponies.
- Nita's dynamite goes off while Bat is still trying to shoot.
Also available
- Internet Archive (TheTerrorOfTinyTown1938_802)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Terror of Tiny Town (1938) by Sam Newfield.webm)
