A Reel Retro Review: SCENT OF MYSTERY (1960)

With no new films to review for the foreseeable future, Reel Speak will randomly review a classic film from the TCM library every week. Not just for the sake of filling time, but to hopefully introduce some classic, overlooked, and perhaps forgotten screen gems to those of us who may be unfamiliar or unawares of their existence.  

In the early part of this century, studios tried to create a new sensation with 3D films; either by re-releasing old classics in the format or making movies tailored to show off the effect. It was a gimmick that died quickly (thank the Maker), leaving many of the movies of that era languishing without that extra dimension. In the 1960’s, a similar gimmick was tried, called Smell-O-Vision…which was a system that released odor during the film so that audiences could smell what was happening in the movie. The first film to give it a try was SCENT OF MYSTERY in 1960. When viewing this film at home, the Smell-O-Vision is obviously not a factor, so the question is, how does the film work without the tricks? 

While on holiday in Spain, Oliver Larker (Denholm Elliott), is a mystery novelist who stumbles upon a plot to murder an American heiress. He enlists the help of a cabbie, Smiley (Peter Lorre), to locate the woman and save her life. 

Directed by Jack Cardiff from a screenplay by Gerald Kersh, SCENT OF MYSTERY begins with a simple enough plot; find the girl, save her life, catch the bad guys. Larker and his cabbie have very little to go on in the early goings as they only catch a glimpse of her  from afar. What comes next is a cross-country trip across Spain which serves as one-part mystery-solver and one-part tour guide. 

What should be a simple plot eventually gets unnecessarily complicated. The film moves into a mistaken-identity genre when Larker and Smiley spend half the film chasing a woman who isn’t really the heiress, and cross paths with a mysterious lawyer and sniper-assassin whose actions never make much sense. The reasons behind the need to kill the heiress are revealed in a convoluted mess, and even by the time the credits roll one would still be scratching their nose trying to make sense of it all. 

Scenes where the Smell-O-Vision would have kicked in are obvious; the presence of the sniper was hinted at by the smell of tobacco, a brawl in a bedroom spills perfume, and a cart full of wine barrels smashes and spills wine everywhere. The film seems to rely on the gimmick, as the rest of its execution is quite clumsy. Larker’s status as a mystery novelist never comes into play (he could have been a plumber), and even though he is established as a British gentleman who spends most of his days behind a typewriter, he suddenly switches to action-hero capable of fist fighting his way out of a jam or two. The jokes and gags are lame even for 1960 standards, with most of them coming from awkward, voice-over one-liners from Larker. 

Denholm Elliott carries the film and is in nearly every frame. He gives it his best, and at the very least gives the film a status as a curiosity piece for anyone who would like to see the work he did before he became the sidekick to Indiana Jones in the 1980’s. Peter Lorre as Smiley the cabbie is a hoot, and Beverly Bentley, as the mistaken-identity heiress, is also very good. 

The closing of the film features an un-credited cameo by Elizabeth Taylor as the real heiress, giving the film one of the few attempted twists that actually works. Every other surprise is hard to make sense of, and it’s clear that this is one of those films that relied too much on things outside of its own script and direction to succeed. SCENT OF MYSTERY kinda stinks. 

BOTTOM LINE: Fuck it 

*

Reel Facts: SCENT OF MYSTERY opened in three theatres in 1960 in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The Smell-O-Vision mechanism did not work well, and although the problems were eventually ironed-out, the film suffered from poor reviews and bad word-of-mouth and finished as a financial failure. Director Jack Cardiff was a cinematographer at heart, having been nominated by the Academy for Best Cinematography five times, winning in 1947 for BLACK NARCISSUS.