Scent of Mystery (1960)

A vacationing Englishman (Denholm Elliott) stumbles upon a plot to kill a young American tourist (Beverly Bentley) in Spain.

Director:

Jack Cardiff

Writers:

Kelley Roos (story), William Roos

Stars:

Denholm Elliott, Peter Lorre, Beverly Bentley

Cast

Cast overview:
Denholm Elliott	...	Oliver Larker
Peter Lorre	...	Smiley
Beverly Bentley	...	The Decoy Sally Kennedy
Paul Lukas	...	Baron Saradin
Liam Redmond	...	Johnny Gin
Leo McKern	...	Tommy Kennedy
Peter Arne	...	Robert Fleming
Mary Laura Wood	...	Margharita
Diana Dors	...	Winifred Jordan
Judith Furse	...	Miss Leonard
Maurice Marsac	...	Pepi
Michael Trubshawe	...	English Aviator
Juan Olaguivel	...	Truck Driver
Billie Miller	...	Constance Walker

Storyline

A vacationing Englishman (Denholm Elliott) stumbles upon a plot to kill a young American tourist (Beverly Bentley) in Spain.

---

Plot Keywords:

spain | butterfly | aerial camera shot | tourist | rose | 

---

Taglines:

First they moved (1895)! Then they talked (1927)! Now they smell!

---

Genres:

Mystery

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 January 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

Holiday in Spain

Filming Locations:

Córdoba, Andalucía, Spain

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min 75 min (re-release)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.59 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Peter Sellers was suggested by Jack Cardiff for the lead role, but Mike Todd Jr on meeting him, thought that he was a most humourless man, and rejected him outright.

---

Quotes

Oliver Larker: [narrating] I haven't been away from my flat in 9 years, and 6 mysteries. But, I suppose the creator of a private eye has to get out in public every so often. And I hate to travel - unless it's in the Commonwealth. Otherwise you meet so many foreigners, who don't even speak English. And all those beastly tourists - mostly Americans. They don't speak English either.

---

Crazy Credits

There is a credit for the shoe polish brightening the cast's shoes.

---

Connections

Spoofed in Polyester (1981)

---

Soundtracks

SCENT OF MYSTERY
Written by Jordan Ramin
Sung by Eddie Fisher

User Reviews

More please...that is more info about the 8 track sound system

I have been tempted by the Belock/Everest Records/Todd AO link up in terms of LPs, Around the World in Eighty Days, and highlights from Mike Todd's Broadway shows and the Night in Venice, where I think one part of it was filmed in Todd AO. You can hear the front 5 channel sound compressed into remarkable standard 2 channel stereo on the 80 Days LP.

I know the 6 channel Todd AO sound was Westrex and entirely independent of Belock recording but the later development of 8 channels held the possibility of rear stereo effects, the 6 channel format having mono rear sound, but in this case of smello vision one of these channels was also used to steer the scent effects.

I have spotted a Scent of Mystery soundtrack LP from Everest Records and wonder whether it is worth getting in terms of quality of the music on this film.

This may have been a cinematic dead end. But the real bad thing that happened was the tragedy of Mike Todd's premature death in that plane accident.

This is a most interesting discussion and I thank the others for their helpful comments, especially the guy who speaks from first hand experience and who commented on the great sound...that's why I am curious about whether it supplied rear stereo and what the prospects of the LP. I imagine this all predates any form of dolby encoding so the notion of being able to extract a pro logic surround sound from a two track stereo source did not exist.