Scent of Mystery

Last updated
Scent of Mystery
Scent of Mystery FilmPoster.jpeg
A film poster bearing the film's new title: Holiday in Spain
Directed by Jack Cardiff
Screenplay by Gerald Kersh
Based onGhost of a Chance
1947 novel
by Kelley Roos
Produced by Mike Todd Jr.
Starring Denholm Elliott
Peter Lorre
Elizabeth Taylor
CinematographyJohn von Kotze
Edited by James E. Newcom
Music by Harold Adamson
Mario Nascimbene
Jordan Ramin
Color process Technicolor
Release date
  • January 6, 1960 (1960-01-06)(Chicago)
[1]
Running time
125 minutes (original cut)
102 mins (re-release)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million [2]
Box office$300,000 (US/Canada rentals) [3]
External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg "Holiday in Spain (trailer)"

Scent of Mystery is a 1960 American mystery film directed by Jack Cardiff and starring Denholm Elliot and Peter Lorre. [4] It was the first film to use the Smell-O-Vision system to release odors at points in the film's plot, and the first film in which aromas were integral to the story, providing important details to the audience. It was produced by Mike Todd Jr., who, in conjunction with his father Mike Todd, had produced such spectacles as This Is Cinerama (1952) and Around the World in Eighty Days (1956).

Contents

The film was later re-released in Cinerama under the title Holiday in Spain without Smell-O-Vision. In 2012, the film was restored, reconstructed and re-released by David Strohmaier. In 2015, a version complete with reconstructed scents was presented at screenings in Los Angeles, Denmark and England. [5]

Cardiff called it the "one film I want to erase from my memory. The reason for this is that, through no fault of my own, the film was a complete disaster." [6]

Plot

A mystery novelist discovers a plan to murder an American heiress while on vacation in Spain. He enlists the help of a taxi driver to travel across the Spanish countryside in order to thwart the crime. [7]

Cast

Ghost of a Chance

The screenplay was adapted from the 1947 novel Ghost of a Chance by Kelley Roos, the pen name of husband-and-wife mystery writers Audrey Kelley and William Roos. [8] The novel was set in locations in New York City and was about a husband and wife investigating a possible murder of a woman about whose existence they are unsure. [9]

Kelley Roos also wrote a 1959 paperback novelization of the screenplay, reset in Spain. [10] Anthony Boucher of The New York Times wrote that "unlike almost all other film adaptations, it's a highly entertaining book – so light and bright and gay in its wild adventure in southern Spain that you never care whether it makes much sense or not." [11]

Production

During production, the film was titled The Chase Is On.[ citation needed ]

For the film's director, Todd Jr. chose Jack Cardiff, a leading cinematographer whom Todd Sr. had wanted to shoot the never-filmed Don Quixote and who had just made his directorial debut with Sons and Lovers (1960). Cardiff later said that "using smells in a film was also an ambition I had had for years." [6]

Casting

Cardiff says that he recommended Peter Sellers to play the lead role, but a nervous Sellers made a poor impression on Todd during a lunch meeting. The lead instead went to Denholm Elliott. [6]

Filming

Filming started April 1959 near Barcelona, and took three months. [12] The film was shot entirely in Spain and involved traveling 100,000 kilometres. It was filmed in color using the Todd-AO process. Locations included Granada (including Alhambra), Guadix, Ronda (el tajo, puente viejo and alcazar), Seville (Puente de San Telmo, Plaza de España), El Chorro (Caminito del Rey), Córdoba (Mezquita), Madrid, Barcelona, Pamplona, Segovia (aqueduct and alcazar) and Málaga (Catedral and Castillo de Gibralfaro). [2]

Filmink argued that Beverly Bentley's role should have been played by Diana Dors, who instead had a cameo. [13] Bentley was a television actress from Atlanta whom Todd had discovered. [14]

In May, Peter Lorre suffered a heart attack while filming near Granada. [15] Cardiff says that a double was then employed for most of Lorre's subsequent scenes. [6]

Cardiff said "Shooting the film was exciting and we were all convinced we had a great movie." However, halfway through filming, he asked Todd if he had experienced the Smell-O-Vision effect, but Todd had not, so samples were sent to them by Dr. Laube, the inventor of the process. "It's hard to believe but each labelled glass smelled exactly the same as the others – like a very cheap eau de cologne," said Cardiff. "It was such a sad thing that the film was made...as integral part of the film was of course the use of smells, and it didn't come off because the smells were nothing. They were a fake." [6]

Todd said "we want to make a good picture with laughs, entertainment and thrills – and we hope it will be received with critical approval. Already our film has been referred to as the original smellodrama and the first picture that smells. But no matter what we call the process we are pioneers, and its got to be good or the boys will take full advantage of the connotation. I hope it is the kind of picture they call a scent-sation." [14]

Smell technology

According to the Los Angeles Times in 1954, Mike Todd Sr. was introduced to the Smell-O-Vision process, which enabled certain odors to be released into a theater during a screening. Todd was enthusiastic about the process, which was invented by a Swiss professor named Hans Laube (1900–76). Laube had demonstrated the concept at the 1939 New York World's Fair. [14]

Todd Sr. considered incorporating it into Around the World in Eighty Days but decided against it. When Todd died, his son decided to use Laube's process in a film that would incorporate the sense of smell into the actual storytelling process.

Some scenes were designed to highlight Smell-O-Vision's capabilities. [16] In one, wine casks fall off a wagon and roll down a hill, smashing against a wall, at which point a grape scent was released. [17] Other scenes were accompanied by aromas that revealed key points to the audience. For example, the assassin was identified by the smell of a smoking pipe. [18]

Scents used in the film

  • Pipe tobacco: Smoked by the villain
  • Coffee
  • Roses
  • Wine
  • Gunpowder
  • Peppermint
  • Shoe polish
  • Gasoline
  • Perfume: The method to identify the girl whose life is in danger
  • Flowers
  • Brandy
  • Fresh sea air
  • Peaches
  • Bananas
  • Wood shavings

Release

The film opened at the Cinestage Theatre in Chicago on January 6, 1960. [1] [19] It opened in Los Angeles on January 25 and at the Warner Theatre in New York City on February 18, 1960. [1] [20] Costs of the Smell-O-Vision system were high. It took an estimated $25 to $30 per seat to install and use Smell-O-Vision at a time when a movie tickets cost less than $1. [5]

Ads for the film proclaimed: "First they moved (1895)! Then they talked (1927)! Now they smell!" Producer Mike Todd, who was a bit of a showman, engaged in such hyperbole, saying, "I hope it's the kind of picture they call a scentsation!" He also got help from newspaper columnists such as Earl Wilson, who lauded the system, claiming that Smell-O-Vision "can produce anything from skunk to perfume, and remove it instantly." The New York Times writer Richard Nason believed that it was a major advance in filmmaking. As such, expectations for the film were great. [21]

Holiday in Spain

The film was retitled as Holiday in Spain and re-released, but without the odors, by Cinerama, which needed new products for its specially equipped theaters. The film was converted into three-strip prints that could be exhibited on the very wide, deeply curved screens in the special theaters. However, having been converted from Smell-O-Vision, as The Daily Telegraph described it, "the film acquired a baffling, almost surreal quality, since there was no reason why, for example, a loaf of bread should be lifted from the oven and thrust into the camera for what seemed to be an unconscionably long time." [21] [22]

Television

Scent of Mystery was aired once on television by MTV and syndicated on local TV stations in the 1980s. A convenience-store promotion, similar to that for the movie Polyester , offered scratch-and-sniff cards for viewers to recreate the theater experience. [7]

Restoration

In 2012, Holiday in Spain was completely restored and digitally reconstructed by film editor and Cinerama restoration specialist David Strohmaier. Only portions of the original camera negative remained in usable condition, so the remaining parts of the film were reconstructed from two archival 70-mm Eastmancolor prints. Not enough of the deleted footage from the original Scent of Mystery was recovered to be able to restore that version as well. The newly restored film was released on Blu-ray in 2014 by Screen Archives. [22]

In 2015, Australian film producer Tammy Burnstock and artist and scent creator Saskia Wilson-Brown revived the Smell-O-Vision experience, presenting Strohmaier's restored film at screenings in Los Angeles, Denmark and England. The only information about the scents used in the original production was a list with entries such as "happy odor of baking bread" and "the faint smell of a yellow rose." Without any perfumers' or chemists' specifications, Wilson-Brown recreated the film's smells from scratch by blending possible aroma ingredients. [5] [23]

Reception

The Smell-O-Vision mechanism did not work well. According to Hy Hollinger of Variety, aromas were released with a distracting hissing noise, and audience members in the balcony complained that the scents reached them several seconds after the action was shown on the screen. [24] In other parts of the theater, the odors were too faint, causing audience members to sniff loudly in an attempt to catch the scents. [21]

Cardiff recalled that the Chicago screening worked well: "Exactly on cue you'd get the whiff of the smell coming up from the seat in front of you, so you'd smell it", adding that the "press and everybody, they all said the same thing: there is no particular smell about anything. It was all a kind of cheap eau de cologne. This was a disaster. And then later on we ran it in New York, and that was the end of that because it had terrible notices because it was not a genuine Smell-O-Vision at all. It was a very interesting story with a marvellous photographic background of Spain, but the smell, for which it was made, didn't exist." [6]

The daughter of Smell-O-Vision inventor Hans Laube's later claimed that the technology used at these screenings was different from what her father had envisioned. She wrote, "The producers realized they could save a fortune if they air-conditioned the scents in rather than install the elegant, costly little units in front of each theatre seat. Hans's concept was, install the scent emitters in front of a certain number of seats. Send the scent; send some neutralizer. Personalized. Tidy and elegant. (And apparently, costly.) So very late in the game, one of the producers decided they could make much more $ by using the air conditioner to waft in the scents. And, screw the neutralizer. So the film became known as Mike Todd Jr's only Stinker." [25]

Technical adjustments by Smell-O-Vision's manufacturers solved these problems, but by then it was too late. Negative reviews, in conjunction with word of mouth, caused the film to fail miserably.

Todd later said that his press agent Bill Doll "had an idea that would have saved the damned thing if we'd thought of it before the film opened. And that was to reverse the pump. It sucked air back, so that there was no overhang on the previous smell. Otherwise it just sort of drifted in between smells. It wasn't over powering, but just enough not to make the clearest delineation. Bill got this idea after the third opening. It was used, and it worked perfectly, but by that time the ship had sailed." [26]

Critical reception

Hy Hollinger of Variety wrote that the film "has many elements that are derivative of a Hitchcock chase film, the late Mike Todd's Around the World in Eighty Days, and the Cinerama travelogue technique...The travelog is neatly integrated as part of the chase." [24]

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote:

As theatrical exhibitionism, it is gaudy, sprawling and full of sound. But as an attempt at a considerable motion picture it has to be classified as bunk...It is an artless, loose-jointed "chase" picture...Whatever novel stimulation it might afford with the projection of smells appears to be dubious and dependent upon the noses of the individual viewers and the smell-projector's whims...Indistinct is the right word for the whole silly plot of the film and the casual, confused performance of it, which is virtually amateur. Except for the job of Peter Lorre...the acting is downright atrocious. [27]

The Los Angeles Times called the film "good family entertainment and while it is doubtful whether the smellies are here to stay you'll find this one worth a look...and smell." [28]

Comedian Henny Youngman quipped "I didn't understand the picture. I had a cold." [29]

The Monthly Film Bulletin , reviewing the Holiday in Spain version of the film, wrote: "Originally presented complete with the smells of Spain, and now deodorised to leave the characters still doing an unconscionable amount of sniffing, this is a thin thriller-charade offering little in the way of either amusement or excitement. Peter Lorre makes an affable appearance as the meter-conscious, cowardly-but-game taxi-driver; otherwise the film is mainly an excuse to use the large screen for travelogue views around Spain – which are spectacular enough if you like that sort of thing." [30]

Box office

In its first five shows in Chicago, the film grossed $12,000. [19] It went on to earn only $300,000 in theatrical rentals in the United States and Canada. [3] Todd later said that he felt that the idea "was just a novelty gimmick. Maybe, if it was a gigantic hit, you might make a second film, and at the most, a third, but that would have been it." [26]

Todd did not produce another film until 1979's The Bell Jar , which was also his last film. [31]

Soundtrack

The Scent of Mystery soundtrack was released on CD in 2011 on the Kritzerland label. It features a score composed by Mario Nascimbene and two songs from the film sung by Eddie Fisher.

Rival film

Scent of Mystery was not the only attempt to combine cinema and smell. The AromaRama system, which released scents through the air conditioning system of a theater, was first used for the travelogue Behind the Great Wall in December 1959. [32] [33]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinerama</span> Widescreen, curved screen projection process

Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146-degrees of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporation. It was the first of several novel processes introduced during the 1950s when the movie industry was reacting to competition from television. Cinerama was presented to the public as a theatrical event, with reserved seating and printed programs, and audience members often dressed in their best attire for the evening.

Smell-O-Vision is a system that released odor during the projection of a film so that the viewer could "smell" what was happening in the movie. Created by Hans Laube, the technique made its only appearance in the 1960 film Scent of Mystery, produced by Mike Todd Jr., son of film producer Mike Todd. The process injected 30 odors into a movie theater's seats when triggered by the film's soundtrack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd-AO</span> American post-production company

Todd-AO is an American post-production company founded in 1953 by Mike Todd and Robert Naify, providing sound-related services to the motion picture and television industries. The company retains one facility, in the Los Angeles area.

<i>Polyester</i> (film) 1981 film by John Waters

Polyester is a 1981 American comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters, and starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole. It satirizes the melodramatic genre of women's pictures, particularly those directed by Douglas Sirk, whose work directly influenced this film. The film is also a satire of suburban life in the early 1980s, involving topics such as divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, racial stereotypes, foot fetishism, and the religious right.

A roadshow theatrical release or reserved seat engagement is the practice of opening a film in a limited number of theaters in major cities for a specific period of time before the wide release of the film. Roadshows would generally mimic a live theatre production, with an upscale atmosphere as well as somewhat higher prices than during a wide release. They were commonly used to promote major films from the 1920s–60s and build excitement.

Aromachology is the study of the influence of odors on human behavior and to examine the relationship between feelings and emotions. Those who practice aromachology are aromachologists. Aromachologists analyze emotions such as relaxation, exhilaration, sensuality, happiness and well-being brought about by odors stimulating the olfactory pathways in the brain and, in particular, the limbic system. Different wearers are thought to have unique physiological and psychological responses to scents, especially those not manufactured synthetically but based on real scents. The word "aromachology" is derived from "aroma" and "physio-psychology", the latter being the study of aroma. This term was coined in 1989 by what is now the Sense of Smell Institute (SSI), a division of The Fragrance Foundation. The SSI defines aromachology as "a concept based on systematic, scientific data collected under controlled conditions". The term is defined as the scientifically observable influence of smell on emotions and moods. Consumers use aromachology to alleviate time pressures, for relaxation or stimulation and as a component of other activities that generate a feeling of well-being.

Super Panavision 70 is the marketing brand name used to identify movies photographed with Panavision 70 mm spherical optics between 1959 and 1983. It has since been replaced by Panavision System 65.

Scratch and sniff technology is the application of a fragrant coating to items such as stickers or paperboard, so that when the coating is scratched it releases an odor that is normally related to the image displayed under the coating. The technology has been used on a variety of surfaces from stickers to compact discs. Gale W. Matson accidentally invented the technology while working for 3M in the 1960s. He was attempting to create a new method for making carbonless copy paper using microencapsulation. The technology to infuse microcapsules and paper was submitted to the US patent office on November 18, 1969, and the patent was granted on June 23, 1970. Despite the technology being invented by Matson in the 60's and its subsequent success in the 70's, the first patent for a translucent fragrance releasing version of microcapsules wasn't issued until January 15, 1985, to the 3M corporation.

Walter Reade was the name of a father and son who had an extensive career in the United States motion picture industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ultra Panavision 70</span> 65 mm motion picture widescreen process

Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65 were, from 1957 to 1966, the marketing brands that identified motion pictures photographed with Panavision's anamorphic movie camera lenses on 65 mm film. Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65 were shot at 24 frames per second (fps) using anamorphic camera lenses. Ultra Panavision 70 and MGM Camera 65's anamorphic lenses compressed the image 1.25 times, yielding an extremely wide aspect ratio of 2.76:1.

The odour of sanctity, according to the Catholic Church, is commonly understood to mean a specific scent that emanates from the bodies of saints, especially from the wounds of stigmata. These saints are called myroblytes while the exudation itself is referred to as myroblysia or myroblytism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Todd Jr.</span> American film producer

Michael Henry Todd Jr. was an American film producer. He was involved in innovations such as the movie format Smell-o-vision, and the production of a racially-integrated minstrel show for the 1964 World's Fair.

The iSmell is a commercial application of digital scent technology. Personal Scent Synthesizer developed by DigiScents Inc. was a small device that can be connected to a computer through a USB port and powered using any ordinary electrical outlet. The appearance of the device is similar to that of a shark's fin, with many holes lining the "fin" to release the various scents. Using a cartridge similar to a printer's, it can synthesize and even create new smells from certain combinations of other scents. These newly created odors can be used to closely replicate common natural and man-made odors. The cartridges used also need to be swapped every so often once the scents inside are used up. Once partnered with websites and interactive media, the scents can be activated either automatically once a website is opened or manually. However, the product is no longer on the market and never generated substantial sales. Digiscent had plans for the iSmell to have several versions but did not progress past the prototype stage. The company did not last long and filed for bankruptcy a short time after.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odor</span> Volatile chemical compounds perceived by the sense of smell

An odor or odour is a smell or a scent caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds generally found in low concentrations that humans and many animals can perceive via their olfactory system. While smell can refer to pleasant and unpleasant odors, the terms scent, aroma, and fragrance are usually reserved for pleasant-smelling odors and are frequently used in the food and cosmetic industry to describe floral scents or to refer to perfumes.

A movie gimmick is an unusual idea intended to enhance the viewing experience of a film, and thus increase box office sales. Many of these have been used for just a few films, proving unpopular with either audiences or cinema owners. Smell-o-vision, which involved releasing relevant odors during the film, only appeared in the film Scent of Mystery as audiences did not enjoy the experience. Sensurround, a method for enhancing sound pioneered for the 1974 film Earthquake, was abandoned as it sometimes resulted in damage to movie theatres. Other 'gimmicks' have gradually become more common in cinema, as technology has improved. Examples include 3-D film and the use of split screen, which was originally achieved through the use of dual projectors in cinemas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital scent technology</span> The study of smelling things through a computer

Digital scent technology is the engineering discipline dealing with olfactory representation. It is a technology to sense, transmit and receive scent-enabled digital media. The sensing part of this technology works by using olfactometers and electronic noses.

Scentography is the technique of creating and storing odor by artificially recreating a smell using chemical and electronic means.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olfactory art</span> Art form that uses scent as a medium

Olfactory art is an art form that uses scents as a medium. Olfactory art includes perfume as well as other applications of scent.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Scent of Mystery at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  2. 1 2 A. H. WEILER (12 July 1959). "PASSING PICTURE SCENE: Trailing 'Scent of Mystery' Through Spain -- Espionage -- Other Matters". New York Times. p. X5.
  3. 1 2 "Feature films shot, released domestically in 70mm process". Daily Variety . May 21, 1992. p. 22.
  4. ↑ "Scent of Mystery". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Gross, Daniel A. (2017). "The Third Sense". Distillations. 2 (4): 6–7. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Burnstock, Tammy (1986). "Jack Cardiff about "Scent of Mystery"". 70mm.com.
  7. 1 2 Coles, David. ""Scent of Mystery" Playdate History". The 70mm Newsletter. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. 1960. p. 599. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  9. ↑ "GHOST OF A CHANCE By Kelley Roos. 190 pp. New York: A.A. Wyn. $2". The New York Times . April 20, 1947. p. BR34.
  10. ↑ Pronzini, Bill; Muller, Marcia (1986). 1001 midnights: the aficionado's guide to mystery and detective fiction . Arbor House. p. 695. ISBN   0-87795-622-7.
  11. ↑ Boucher, Anthony (February 7, 1960). "Criminals At Large: Criminals". The New York Times . p. BR30.
  12. ↑ "Of Local Origin". New York Times. Mar 4, 1959. p. 34.
  13. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (September 7, 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
  14. 1 2 3 Scheuer, Philip (1959-04-26). "'SCENT OF MYSTERY': Movies...Talkies...and Now---Smellies!". Los Angeles Times . Sec. V, p. 2.
  15. ↑ "Peter Lorre 'Desperately' Ill". New York Times. May 12, 1959. p. 70.
  16. ↑ Holmes, Bob (2017). Flavor: The Science of Our Most Neglected Sense. W. W. Norton & Company.
  17. ↑ Stanley, Robert H. (1978). Celluloid empire: a history of the American movie industry. New York: Hastings House. p.  167. ISBN   978-0-8038-1247-5.
  18. ↑ Morris, Neil (2011). Gadgets and inventions . Chicago: Raintree. pp.  10-12. ISBN   978-1-4109-3909-8.
  19. 1 2 "Chi Hotsy; 'Scent' Sharp $12,000 in 5 Shows, 'Sheba' Whopping $39,000, 3d, 'Petticoat' Wow 40G, 'Anni' Hep 14G". Variety . January 13, 1960. p. 9.
  20. ↑ "Cinemiracle May Take On 'Scent'; Col Deal Chills". Variety . July 6, 1960. p. 5. Retrieved February 6, 2021– via Archive.org.
  21. 1 2 3 Smith, Martin J.; Kiger, Patrick J. (February 5, 2006). "The Lingering Reek of Smell-O-Vision". Los Angeles Times . p. 26.
  22. 1 2 Galbraith, Stuart IV (December 4, 2014). "Holiday in Spain". DVD Talk. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Scent of Mystery". Institute for Art and Olfaction. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  24. 1 2 Hollinger, Hy (January 13, 1960). "Film Reviews: Scent of Mystery". Variety . p. 6. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  25. ↑ Laube, Carmen (2016). "A Brief History about Hans Laube A personal reflection on the 'Osmologist' responsible for Smell-O-Vision". In 70mm.
  26. 1 2 Frumkes, Roy (1995). "An Interview with Mike Todd Jr". In 70mm.
  27. ↑ Crowther, Bosley (February 19, 1960). "Screen: Olfactory Debut: Scent of Mystery' Opens at Warner". The New York Times .
  28. ↑ Scott, John L. (January 26, 1960). "'Scent of Mystery' Odorous Adventure". Los Angeles Times . p. 16.
  29. ↑ Kirsner, Scott (2008), Inventing the Movies, Createspace, pp. 45–46, ISBN   978-1-4382-0999-9
  30. ↑ "Scent of Mystery" . The Monthly Film Bulletin . 33 (384): 60. 1 January 1966 – via ProQuest.
  31. ↑ Willis, John (1983). Screen World. New York: Biblo and Tannen. p. 363. ISBN   978-0-8196-0308-1 . Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  32. ↑ Crowther, Bosley (December 10, 1959). "Smells of China; 'Behind Great Wall' Uses AromaRama". The New York Times . Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  33. ↑ Montefiore, Clarissa Sebag (13 October 2015). "The movie you can smell". BBC. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.