Two years ago, a Blu-ray restoration in honor of the film’s 25th anniversary uncovered almost an hour of previously unreleased footage from David Lynch’s 1986 suburban noir masterpiece Blue Velvet. Earlier this week, the Film Stage put the whole thing online, complete with a few sweet notes from Lynch himself. Clocking in at 22 scenes in just shy of 52 minutes, it’s a lot of surrealist erotica to get through in one sitting. That’s why we’ve assembled a handy guide to the new material, complete with time stamps. Here’s what you’ll find in the video below — and what it tells us about the film as a whole.
0:07-3:10 At the first stop on Frank, Jeffrey, and Dorothy’s “joy ride,” a guitarist and an old black singer perform a blues song about a dog chasing a rabbit. A topless woman casually smokes a cigarette in the background, with a few more girls sans shirts dancing around a pool table. Frank and company burst in; one henchman stops at the bar to order a full case of Pabst Blue Ribbon (of course). Frank pins a guy to the pool table, snarling that he’s lost his lucky piece of blue velvet. He makes a topless girl lie on her back next to him before dragging Jeffrey and Dorothy into the back room.
3:10-3:40 A young, attractive, blonde woman yells to “Frank” that Billy’s “waiting for his teddy.” She walks outside in curlers, only to see her young son discover Mr. Beaumont’s passed-out body. No doubt David Lynch got a laugh out of giving a cute blonde toddler the same name as Dennis Hopper’s sexually deviant drug addict.
3:40-6:55 A college boy looks for Jeffrey at a party; his mother’s on the phone and it’s an emergency. Jeffrey’s in a back room, leering on as a college boy assaults a young woman. He waits about 20 seconds too long before telling the boy to leave her alone, and that’s only because he hears someone calling for him. So we find out he’s a pervert — not a detective — long before the infamous “mommy” scene. His mom asks him to come home for good, since there isn’t enough money for both college and Mr. Beaumont’s medical treatments. The back story adds an interesting note of bitterness to Jeffrey’s character (and may explain why he gets so into sleuthing; without school, the kid needed an outlet).
6:55-8:10 Jeffrey bids goodbye to his frat brothers and his girlfriend, Louise. She doesn’t seem like a winner — she won’t even go to the airport with him — but they’re supposedly in love, which means he’s cheating on Louise with Sandy even as he’s cheating on Sandy with Dorothy. These scenes continue to make Jeff out to be even more of a creep than he is in the finished film.
8:10-11:50 On the drive home from the airport, Mrs. Beaumont tells Jeffrey his father likely has a tumor while Aunt Barbara continues to be her crazy self. Back at home, Jeffrey surveys his room and peeks through the blinds, foreshadowing a certain closet in Dorothy’s apartment. The camera then pans through the suburban nighttime for a full minute.
11:50-14:18 At breakfast, Mrs. Beaumont tells Jeffrey he’ll have to walk to visiting hours, which is how he ends up coming by the ear that starts his whole misadventure. Aunt Barbara advises him not to get depressed about dropping out. To avoid putting further stress on his father, Mrs. Beaumont still hasn’t told him Jeffrey isn’t going back to school.
14:18-15:33 Jeffrey calls up Louise, who’s already going out with someone else. After he hangs up, menacing music plays as Jeffrey stares off into the distance.
15:33-16:06 Aunt Barbara and Mrs. Beaumont harmonize “My Darling Clementine” while washing the dishes.
16:13-18:46 A different version of the first scene at Detective Williams’ house. Mrs. Williams invites Jeffrey inside for coffee and a slice of Duncan Hines cake, which is how he meets both Sandy and her boyfriend Mike (at the same time). So in this version of events, he knew she was in a relationship from the start. After he and Detective Williams go to talk, Mrs. Williams looks confused and worried.
18:46-20:00 Jeffrey walks downstairs, only to find a doctor giving his mother medicine. He notes that she’s sick, but rather than asking what’s wrong, he just asks whether he can take the car that night. He’s also openly hostile towards Aunt Barbara; when she protests “I’m not sick!,” he simply points to his head. Harsh!
20:00-28:45 Another version of the scene where Jeffrey drives Sandy to see Dorothy perform at the Slow Club for the first time. He’s colder and more determined, she’s more flirtatious and less cautious. At the club, they order Heinekens and wait for Dorothy while watching a dog eat out of a bowl onstage. The two toast to “an interesting experience” before an opening act plays “Beautiful Dreamer” interspersed with bad standup and bellydancing. Chicken and egg set pieces float in the background. It’s the most Lynchian thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
28:45-29:38 Mrs. Beaumont catches Jeffrey as he comes back from staking out Dorothy’s apartment. She’s upset he wasn’t home early enough to call his father.
29:38-30:25 In the morning, Jeffrey calls Louise again. In a beautifully absurd touch, he tells him she’s married now. “Well, I wish you a lot of luck, and if things don’t work out, I think you should go into comedy.” I like Bad Jeffrey. A lot.
30:25-31:22 Aunt Barbara tells Jeffrey that there are termites in the house and he ought to be careful. She’s like the Log Lady of this movie.
31:22-33:00 Jeffrey’s at a Williams family dinner, and Mike’s there too. The two get in a pissing contest over football, and the Heineken/Bud thing comes up.
33:00-33:55 Aunt Barbara hits the wall with her cane, finds a termite on the floor, looks around suspiciously.
33:55-40:08 After dinner, Jeffrey, Mike, and Sandy watch a TV show where girls in prom dresses race while hauling armchairs behind them. When Mike steps out, Sandy asks Jeffrey what happened at Dorothy’s. He answers that there are “some strange people involved,” a much less intense version of the “it’s a strange world” scene. Mike asks to talk to Sandy; Detective Williams calls Jeffrey in to look at some pictures. One of them shows a swatch of blue velvet in the grass. Sandy then takes Jeffrey for a drive to discuss the previous night’s events.
40:08-41:32 Back at Jeffrey’s house, he asks to kiss Sandy goodnight, but she says he better not. Inside, he finds a note from Aunt Barbara, plus the three termites she found.
41:32-42:24 Jeffrey calls Dorothy’s apartment. Frank answers, but doesn’t say anything. After 15 seconds of silence, Jeffrey breaks the silence with a tentative “Hello?” Frank: “SPEAK TO ME, FUCKER!” Jeffrey panics and hangs up.
42:24-44:41 Jeffrey stakes out Frank’s building on a rainy night. He watches someone get into a car and drive off.
44:41-50:20 A different version of the scene in Dorothy’s apartment where she tells Jeffrey she “looked for him in the closet.” Gordon stops by for a bit while Jeffrey hides in, you guessed it, the closet. Dorothy then takes him onto the roof, where she loses her shoe and nearly falls off. They then passionately embrace.