Round-Up Time in Texas (1937)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Despite the title, almost none of the film is set in Texas! Now here is where the film gets REALLY weird--it's supposed to take place in South Africa! Yes, Gene Autry, his horse Champion and his faithful sidekick Smiley Burnett in South Africa! And, the overall product looks a lot like a B-western merged with a Tarzan flick! Talk about strange! The film begins back in the States. Gene receives a letter from his brother* saying that they really need livestock in South Africa and they can get top dollar for them. So, he and Smiley head across the ocean. However, when they arrive they can't find the brother--he has disappeared after some evil claim-jumpers killed his partner and did goodness knows with him. So, in the process of investigating the disappearance, the baddies try to stop him--leading, naturally, to the somewhat exciting conclusion.Seeing Gene on his horse chasing baddies and then a moment later rushing about a thick jungle set is surreal to say the least. And, seeing Smiley doing fire-eating tricks as well as leading musical group supposedly made up of the Chief's kids really gave this movie a strangeness that made my brain hurt. Still, it was fun and kept my attention and is worth seeing if you like Gene Autry films. Others, however, might not be very impressed or be a bit offended by the stereotypical behaviors of the 'natives' or the use of the 'K-word' (I don't think IMDb would let me use this derogatory word for African Blacks--but to many it's about as offensive as the 'ol 'N-word' in the USA. And, I have been to South Africa and this sure looked NOTHING like the real McCoy--more like extras and props from a Tarzan picture!FYI--The guy playing Gene's brother was NOT his actual real-life brother--just some actor.

This is Gene Autry's most gloriously outrageous juxtaposition of non sequiters since 'The Phantom Empire' (1935)! Even the title is completely out of place! After the first five minutes, horse wranglers Gene and Frog (Smiley Burnette, nicely under control here) are off to Dunbar, South Africa with 50 horses for his brother Tex's diamond mine in "The Valley of Superstition." Then we cut to Gene's brother being ambushed going down a river in 'Africa' by the evil saloon owner's henchmen.Dunbar looks like a typical Western town, and the saloon is filled with nothing but cowboys! The only difference is that the saloon singer, Gwen (Maxine Doyle) warbles an English drinking song. Only Earle Hodgins doing his patented shell game act affects a cockney London accent. (Later, a henchman sings a song about Poland.) Note: we can see more of the cute Maxine in the Bela Lugosi serial 'S.O.S. Coast Guard' (1937) as Ralph Byrd's girlfriend.The saloon owner, Cardigan (Le Roy Mason) plots to kill Gene and Frog as well, since as we find out, he has also stolen the 'diamond mine,' which is actually a river, from which chained slaves carry up buckets of diamonds.After Gene and Frog escape from jail and meet up with Cardigan and Gwen at their jungle camp, they are all captured by wild savages who want to sacrifice them to their Thunder God. Frog saves the day and has them all released when he leads the Chief's children, played by the singing group The Cabin Kids, in a jive and scat rendition of the syncopated song 'Revival Day.' This is the kind of stuff we watch old junk movies for!It's well directed. Gene's and Smiley Burnette's banter is well done; the film's tightly edited and really zips along, even though I've only seen the 54 minute cut version. It speeds by like the feature version of 'The Phantom Empire' (1935), including many different scene changes and fast action. Needless to say, it's well written -- it's a crazy quilt of juxtaposed elements that raise it way above the level of tedious, dreary, formulaic, slow going 1930s Westerns. A bizarre story. Good comic relief this time from Smiley Burnette and a gorilla. Typical 30s musical racial stereotypes. A covered wagon going through the jungle. The obligatory exciting horseback final chase sequence. Great music.The great songs include 'Dinah (Is There Anyone Finer),' and 'Revival Day,' sung by the Cabin Kids; 'Round Up Time in Texas,' sung at the beginning by Gene, Frog, and all the wranglers, and at the end by Gene, Frog, and the Cabin Kids, with Chief Busoto on harmonica; and a short reprise of 'Uncle Noah's Ark' by Gene and Frog, which they perform full length in 'The Phantom Empire.' Is this a Jungle movie? A Western? Who cares!! It's one of the real treats of junk cinema! I give it a 7.

contrary to another comment that they must have used a set built for a jungle film---it was actually the Republic Studios back lot western set that was used for this film. as well as the back lot jungle area already there at the time. The western set was used as a number of other locations over the year also. The Spanish arches seen in the film were at the Mexican village part of the set and used over the years as a fort, a North African village, etc; all they do is shoot from different camera angles and place the appropriate foliage and decorations here and there, and voilà!!! They can be anywhere. the western street was strange in the movie as South Africa, it having been used numerous times in movies and TV westerns. The republic studios back lot was part of the CBS Studio Center beginning in the mid 60's or so and even Gunsmoke used that set a number of times.

Round-Up Time In Texas does not really fit in with the whole cowboy movie genre. Why did Gene and Frog have to have an adventure in South Africa? I'll bet it was because a set was built for a jungle picture and it was cheap for the studio to use it as often as possible before tearing it down. Stock footage of a lion shows up in the movie along with a guy in a gorilla suit. Plenty of black African extras are in this movie. Funny how those South African streets look like a Texas town, isn't it?The movie is fun to watch, but it is not a western. It is about as much of a western as The Phantom Empire. You get a cowboy, some horses, and some western songs, but that's about it. Even though the cast is moving through the jungle to find a lost diamond mine, I kept trying to think of the movie in a Gene Autry western movie context. It just didn't work.Smiley Burnette is good as usual. Earle Hodgins tried to have a bit of an accent in his character, but LeRoy Mason and most of the others in the cast speak just like they would in any other movie.Round-Up Time In Texas is worth watching if you are a fan of Gene Autry movies, but should not be high on a priority list unless you want to watch truly weird movies.