This story opens on an interesting note. Check out the movie theater marquee for the film starring 'Tex' Drexel called "Tex Rides Again". There's no move that goes by that name in the IMDb database, but the other feature showing at the venue was "The Shadow Strikes" which did come out about the same time as this film in 1937. So that was pretty cool. By the way, I've seen it, and the only connection to the iconic Shadow character is in name only.This was actually a fairly good flick for a B Western, with Buck Jones heading the cast but seeming at times like a support player to Grant Withers' character. This was my first look at actress Helen Twelvetrees who other reviewers have mentioned here that her role took on a real life quality of a leading actress on a downhill slope. She seemed competent enough, but that's about all. Very cool name though. Interestingly, I first came across a Twelvetrees character in some old time comic book series, either 'Turok, Son of Stone' or 'Magnus, Robot Fighter'. If I figure it out, I'll delete the incorrect reference.Westerns about film companies making a Western weren't all that unusual for the Thirties and Forties. Gene Autry appeared in a handful with slightly different story lines in each. They were 1940's "Shooting High", 1941's "Down Mexico Way", and "Sioux City Sue", probably the best of them all released in 1946. The story here has self absorbed leading man Grant Drexel (Withers) opting out of scenes that might cause him physical harm, while going for the facial powder to enhance his appearance after getting slapped by co-star Carol Stevens (Twelvetrees). He was too full of himself for his own good.Say, check out that jail scene right after Buck Kennedy (Jones) gets arrested in a frame up for the bank robbery. When Buck lassoed the sheriff out of his chair and hung him upside down, it looked to me like Buck already had the jail key in his hand because he didn't have to take it off the lawman. That came off as a bit clunky.Well this flick had a creative resolution in as much as Buck uses his lasso one more time to take out the rudder of the bandits' getaway plane, with young sidekick Dickie Stevens catching the whole thing on his film recorder. This might be the earliest movie in which I've seen actor Dickie Jones, who had an uncanny resemblance at ten years old to contemporary Spanky McFarland of all those Our Gang shorts. Seeing him ride a pony in this story along side Buck Jones was an early preview of how competent he became as the Range Rider's sidekick in the early Fifties. Until proved otherwise, I consider Jones the best trick rider I've ever seen in any Western format.

"Hollywood Round-Up" is a supposed look behind the scenes at the making of a cheap B-western. It's a nice change of pace for the genre and Buck Jones is, as usual, very good in the lead.When the film begins, Buck Kennedy (Jones) is a movie stand-in who does all the dirty scenes for the star, Grant Drexel (Grant Withers). Despite looking similar, Drexel is the opposite of the nice-guy Kenney. Drexel is obnoxious, a bully and a liar and makes Kennedy's life miserable throughout this movie. Drexel also cannot keep his filthy paws off his leading lady, Carol Stevens (Helen Twelvetrees)...a once leading lady whose career has turned downward...and so she's forced to appear in the so-called 'horse operas'.Late in the film, Drexel gets Kennedy fired and a group of crooks convince Kennedy that they are filmmakers. But, as they rob the bank, it is NOT being filmed...it's real! And, Buck is left holding the bag. in a twist much like a B-western of the era, Buck soon breaks out of prison to catch the baddies himself...and yet Drexel steps in and acts as if HE is the hero! Is there anything anyone can do to prove Buck Kennedy is a hero and Drexel is a real zero?!This is a very interesting B-western because I've seen at least a thousand and they mostly consist of about 3 or 4 plots...but this one is much more unique and enjoyable. I did NOT like the whole fake filmmakers portion because it simply didn't make sense. But the rest of the film was just great--very enjoyable and it was nice to see Drexel get his!By the way, a couple interesting things about the movie are the casting of Twelvetrees and Dickie Jones (who played her brother). Twelvetrees played a once leading actress forced to be in a B-western--and that is EXACTLY what happened with this film. Soon she'd be out of movies completely and, sadly, a decade later she'd kill herself...presumably, in part, due to her career. Also, Jones is interesting because just a few years later he'd star as the leading voice actor in "Pinocchio".

There is a scene in the movie where Helen Twelvetrees, playing an actress who after a string of flops is sent to Crown Pictures for an "outdoor special", has a scene that requires all the emotion she can muster. To actresses on the outer, Westerns were the last straw - the conversation between Helen, as Carol, and her boss went along the lines that if you were a male star Westerns could pave the way (like John Wayne) but to a woman they were the end (like Louise Brooks). Helen Twelvetrees had such a grand future in 1930 - Pathe saw in her their top emotional actress and in films like "My Man" and "Panama Flo" she more than justified their faith in her. But after the production code was enforced her brand of heavy duty emoting seemed passe, then personal problems kicked in and suddenly, in 1937, in almost her last movie, she suddenly found herself (along with Grant Withers another actor on the skids) supporting Buck Jones in "Hollywood Round-Up" and having to play out some of the emotion she would have been feeling in real life. This was one of a handful of movies made around this time that tried to put a bit of satire into the staid western and succeeded.Grant Drexel (Grant Withers) is the kiddie's cowboy favourite at the local matinée but away from the cameras he is a big headed pain who is more concerned with having his make-up just right than showing authenticity during fights. He gets on everyone's nerves including Carol Stevens (Twelvetrees) an actress who, because of her run of bad pictures, has been assigned to Crown Pictures (the announcement causes her to burst into tears) for "outdoor specials" - in other words dreaded Westerns!!! He makes it especially uncomfortable for her but fortunately she finds a friend in an easy going stunt man Buck Kennedy (Buck Jones) who is the real deal and puts his beautiful horse "Silver" through some fancy tricks for the movie audience. He becomes a white knight to Carol and Grant gets so jealous he has Buck fired. Meanwhile a fly by night picture company, Acme, comes to town - it is just a front for a group of bank robbers who find in the dejected Buck a perfect fall guy. Not only is the innocent Buck thrown into prison on suspicion of being involved in the robbery, but when he does escape and single handedly capture the robbers, Grant steps in to take all the glory!! Fortunately little Dickie (Dickie Jones) is on hand with his trusty movie camera!!In this entertaining movie about over the hill movie stars and behind the scenes look at stunting, Grant Withers was probably the truly forgotten star. He was a rugged actor who had found a bit of fame in the early thirties ("Sinner's Holiday" and "Other Men's Women", both of interest for having James Cagney in supporting roles) and who also had a quickie marriage in 1930 to Loretta Young from which he never seemed to recover so by the time of "Hollywood Round-Up" he was on the way to becoming an alcoholic.

There is a rather strange scene early on in this picture.the character played by Helen Twelvetrees goes to see the studio boss initially to complain that she has not made a picture for the studio in over a year.In reality Twelvetrees only made this film in 1937.The boss then admits that she had had 4 box office failures in a row and therefore he wanted her to go into this western.In reality Twelvetrees was virtually at the end of her film career with only a couple more films to go.Bearing in mind of course that between 1929 and 1936 she had appeared in around 30 films.So one can only assume that someone at Columbia had a malicious sense of humour or was paying off for past insults.Based on her performance in this film it is difficult to understand why her star slipped so quickly.She would probably be completely unknown now if it weren't for her unusual surname.This is an entertaining film with the bonus of a behind the scenes look at how B Westerns were made in the 30s.Well worth a look.