SCENT OF MYSTERY and the Lingering History of Smell in Cinema by Kim Luperi
"First they moved (1895)! Then they talked (1927)! Now they smell (1960)!" taglines for SCENT OF MYSTERY (’60) proclaimed. And smell it did – like wine, garlic, cigar smoke, banana and an array of other aromas.
SCENT OF MYSTERY qualifies as the most unique screening I’ve attended at the TCM Classic Film Festival because, well, it’s the only aromatic cinematic experience I’ve ever encountered, recreated for the only movie produced in this particular process, Smell-O-Vision. The mystery travelogue follows a vacationer (Denholm Elliott) in Spain who randomly happens upon a plot to murder a young woman and dashes off throughout the country to stop the crime with the help of a taxi driver (Peter Lorre). Shot on location, the “mistery” movie—as Olorama Technology coined it—aimed to create an atmosphere that smelled just as authentic as the real-life locations viewers saw onscreen.
Though the idea of mixing scent and cinema stretches back to 1916, when a Pennsylvania theater unleashed a rose fragrance on an audience watching a Rose Bowl football game, the novelty failed to compete with the advent of two other ideas that wowed the senses during the 1920s: sound and color. A mere decade later, though, Hans Laube introduced a new scented technology at the 1939 New York World’s Fair: Smell-O-Vision. Laube felt this olfactory experience, which circulated scents through tubes connected to individual theater seats, could open up many possibilities in Hollywood, but that wasn’t the case.
Cut to the 1950s, a time when Hollywood was desperate to entice audiences away from their television screens. According to a 2006 Wired article, SCENT OF MYSTERY producer Michael Todd Jr. approached Laube to create a “smell brain,” a set of bottled scents dispensed automatically as the film ran through the projector. But by the late 1950s, there was competition: AromaRama, which actually debuted first in late 1959 with the documentary BEHIND THE GREAT WALL. While the idea was the same, the method differed, as AromaRama fragrances circulated through air-conditioning systems already in place.
“I felt strongly that the idea of putting smells into a theatre was a wild one,” Todd Jr. was quoted as saying in The New York Times. “The process was fun and it should be used in a way that got the most fun out of it.” But his valiant attempt turned out a failed effort. Despite lofty goals shared in a 1960 Variety article of running the film in 12 locations worldwide by the end of the year, SCENT OF MYSTERY only played three cities: Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Critics bestowed mixed reviews, with some finding the plot uninspired and the scents a distracting crutch.
New York Times critic Bosley Crowther railed against the stunt, saying select odors were indistinguishable and belated; the aromas “are actually the least impressive” feature of the movie, he concluded, especially since some were meant to act as clues to the mystery! Additionally, the technology proved costly, estimated at around $12,000-$20,000 per location, with figures hitting $50,000 for a theater in Chicago. (For comparison, AromaRama installation ranged from $4,000-$8,000.) With those costs, negative critiques and flawed technology, fragranced innovation couldn’t save SCENT OF MYSTERY from bombing at the box office. The film was eventually removed from circulation and re-released, scentless, as HOLIDAY IN SPAIN in 1962.
TCM revamped the Smell-O-Vision experience for SCENT OF MYSTERY’s 2016 TCMFF screening in what I presume was a more cost-efficient manner, relying on audience participation via numbered mini perfume vials left on each seat and large Smell-O-Vision-branded units that pumped select fragrances throughout the theater. When our corresponding number appeared on screen, we spritzed away! Aromas including peach, peppermint, tobacco and fireworks wafted through the air throughout the movie, some more strongly than others as not every seat was occupied. The result? An amusing, if not slightly distracting, interactive experience that I remember – in all honesty – more vividly than the plot itself.
But aromatic cinema didn’t end with SCENT OF MYSTERY. John Waters revived the idea in his 1981 movie POLYESTER with an economical twist: Instead of elaborate scent systems, Waters crafted 10 scratch and sniff scents viewers unleashed signaled by numbers onscreen. In true Waters fashion, he played up the gimmick, dubbed Odorama, and subjected audiences to aromas of gasoline, pizza and flatulence, among others. Waters’ simpler, yet more reliable idea caught on (sans some of those smells!), and scratch and sniff cards were sold at convenience stories for 1980s television airings of SCENT OF MYSTERY and special screenings of RUGRATS GO WILD (2003) and SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD (2011).
So, where will the idea of scent and cinema go from here? Companies today are exploring the possibilities of integrating fragrances into virtual reality, digital chats and other web content, but how long before the fad finally dissipates is the question.
