Weekend Newsreel - September 3, 2005

     FilmBuffOnLine- New Look And Features- We at FilmBuffOnLine are proud to debut several new features and a new site design. (Well, actually, it’s a modified version of our original design from 2002.) In addition to our weekly classic film news roundup “The Weekend Newsreel,” which will appear every Friday, we have a new bi-weekly column “Ask The Film Buff” debuting next week, where we will try to answer any questions you may have about movies. We have also installed a new Bulletin Board feature, so all of our readers can discuss and debate all things celluloid.

     Group Fights To Save Hollywood Landmark- Two Los Angeles groups have joined together to try and save the last remaining Brown Derby restaurant, now known as The Derby nightclub, from the developer’s wrecking ball. The Los Angeles Conservancy and the recently formed group Save The Derby are hoping to keep the Los Feliz Boulevard landmark restaurant from being demolished to make way for a condominium and retail shopping complex. Originally built by movie producer Cecil B. DeMille and opened in 1940, the restaurant was one of several Brown Derby restaurants in the Los Angeles area. The restaurant’s striking oval bar was featured in the 1945 Joan Crawford film Mildred Pierce and also saw a lovesick Jon Favreau pick up Heather Graham in the 1993 indie comedy Swingers. For more information, visit, Save The Derby’s website at http://www.savethederby.com.

     Wizard Of Oz Ruby Slippers Stolen From Museum- A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz (1939) were stolen from the Children’s Discovery Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota late last Saturday night/early Sunday morning August 27/28, 2005. Insured for a million dollars, the slippers were on loan to the museum’s Judy Garland Museum from a Los Angeles collector. The pair is one of only four pairs of slippers used in the film known to exist.  

     Lost Blues Brothers Songs Rediscovered- As part of their review of the new The Blues Brothers 25^th Anniversary Edition DVD, the folks at The Digital Bits have served up a treat for fans of the film- three songs originally recorded for the film, but cut before release, available for download. The Johnny Horton song “Sink The Bismark” was originally supposed to be performed by the Blues Brothers during the “Bob’s Country Bunker” scene, right after the band had finished performing the Patsy Cline song “Stand By Your Man.” Although the number was seen by a test screening audience – back when the picture was intended to be a three-hour “Roadshow” event, complete with intermission – the song was cut before the film’s release and the footage of the performance is believed to be lost. The other two songs – “Quando, Quando, Quando” and a cover of Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are” - are both by Murph And The Magic Tones, the lounge band formed by some members of Jake and Elwood’s band while Jake was in prison. Short snippets of these two songs can be heard in the film. These three songs originally aired on the August 10, 1980 installment of the syndicated Dr. Demento Show, on which Blues Brothers director John Landis appeared. 

     Lost Raiders Of The Lost Ark Scene Uncovered- Indianajones.com has unearthed a lost scene cut during the pre-production of the 1981 adventure classic Raiders Of The Lost Ark. The scene details archaeologist Indiana Jones journeying to China to retrieve an artifact in his race to discover the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis. Although the scene was scripted by screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and storyboarded, the scene was cut before filming started. You can view the script extract and 90 storyboards for the segment at their website.

IN REMEMBRANCE-

Brock Peters- Actor, 79.

Mel Welles- Actor/Screenwriter, 81.

DVD Best Bets- There are a number of DVD box sets hitting the shelves this Tuesday. Universal’s Bela Lugosi Collection features five of the horror great’s films (The Black Cat, Black Friday, The Invisible Ray, Murders In The Rue Morgue, The Raven), from the studio’s golden era. While he may not be the headline star in all these films, they certainly represent both Lugosi and Universal Studios at the height of their game. . . Just in time to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of her birth is the release of Garbo- The Signature Collection, featuring some of the great Greta Garbo’s finest performances including Anna Christie (Garbo Talks!), Ninotchka and Queen Christina. The package also includes documentaries, the only surviving nine minutes of footage from the otherwise lost 1928 Garbo film The Divine Woman and other goodies. . . The five-disc Boys Of The Bowery – The East Side Kids Collection features ten films from the East Side Kids series, the transitional series between the more socially conscious “Dead End Kids” series and the low-budget comedy “Bowery Boys” series and starring Dead End Kids Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and Bobby Jordan. . . Other releases of note this Tuesday include new special editions of The Deer Hunter (1979), The Sting (1973) and To Kill A Mockingbird (1962).