4. WHY BRING THAT UP? (1929) ^ Chances are fairly good that there will be no positive interest in reviving the films of the comedy team of George Moran and Charles E. Mack, better known in their 1920s heyday as “The Two Black Crows.” Offering a minstrel show-style comedy complete with blackface make-up, Moran and Mack were highly popular comics in a time when racial and ethnic humor was prevalent and happily accepted. With the advent of talkies, Paramount Pictures signed Moran and Mack for a feature called “Why Bring That Up?” (the title was based on their trademark punchline) and brought in theatrical legend George Abbott to direct the film. “Why Bring That Up?” was a mix of broad comedy, frenetic musical numbers and some maudlin drama. Moran and Mack stayed at Paramount for another feature, but the studio lost interest in the team and dropped them from their roster within a year, after which time growing audience sophistication tuned them out of the spotlight. ^ WHY IS THIS FILM NOT ON VIDEO? Moran and Mack’s crude comedy is dated so horribly that it is nearly impossible to watch their work today without cringing. Although this brand of entertainment serves as a timeless reminder on the casual nature of racism, “Why Bring that Up?” has not been brought up from the Paramount vaults for many years and remains lost in obscurity.
5. SOUP TO NUTS (1930) ^ The first film appearance of the Three Stooges in their original line-up of Moe, Larry and Shemp in support of funnyman Ted Healy. A near-plotless zany comedy scripted by cartoonist Rube Goldberg, “Soup to Nuts” finds Healy and the Stooges as off-kilter fireman who crash a fancy costume party and later wind up saving the evening when the building hosting the reception catches on fire. The Stooges were not billed in the film’s credits and Healy had another stooge in support (Fred Sanborn, who played his role Harpo Marx-style without dialogue). After the film was released, Healy and the Stooges would not return to films until 1933, with Shemp replaced by the sublime Curly. ^ WHY IS THIS FILM NOT ON VIDEO? Outside of diehard Stooges fans, nobody knows or even cares about the film and there has been no attempt to have the film officially released on video.
Get the complete list in the next part of NEVER ON VIDEO II: THE NEXT TOP 20 “MISSING” MOVIES>>>
