John Landis Has 'Universal' Appeal

(CBS)  Much to the dismay of director John Landis, you won't see legendary screen actress Deanna Durbin in the "Universal 360 — A Cinesphere Spectacular," a new outdoor film spectacle that debuted at Universal Studios over the July 4th weekend.

But it wasn't for lack of trying on the part of Landis, who served as a creative consultant on the ambitious project which blends high-tech special effects with clips of memorable moments in movie history.

Landis lobbied to include Durbin in the 15-minute clip montage he helped edit since the onetime Hollywood siren is often credited with saving Universal from bankruptcy in the 1930s on the strength of films like "Three Smart Girls" and "Mad About Music."

"They were saying, 'But no kids know who Deanna Durbin is,' " Landis recalls. "And I said, 'But she saved the studio!' They go, 'We don't care. There's no 14-year-old who knows who she is. I doubt there's even 45-year-olds who know who she is!' "

Landis says selecting 100 clips that appeal to a theme park audience and also illustrate the "emotional pull of film" was a challenge. The director, famous for iconic film such as "American Werewolf in London," "Blues Brothers," and "Animal House," was responsible for choosing and cutting the clips taken from black-and-white classics and newer releases.

"The park and I had disagreements on what should be in the montage because this really is an impressionistic overview of film and the power of the movies," he says. "You're dealing with comic imagery, whether it's John Wayne or John Belushi — is that power to evoke a response."

The nighttime spectacle is complete with lasers and pyro effects. Landis' montage is projected on spherical screens that are 30-feet tall and 36-feet wide, the four spheres float in the park's central lagoon.

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