Vacationing Englishman Oliver Larker stumbles upon a plot to kill a young American tourist in Spain.Vacationing Englishman Oliver Larker stumbles upon a plot to kill a young American tourist in Spain.Vacationing Englishman Oliver Larker stumbles upon a plot to kill a young American tourist in Spain.
Sandra Shahan
- Lady
- (uncredited)
Elizabeth Taylor
- The Woman of Mystery
- (uncredited)
- …
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis movie was shown in "Smell-O-Vision". The theater was equipped with a system that gave off various odors in sync with this movie. The opening scene involved a butterfly flitting through a rose garden, with accompanying delicious odors. Later on, a barrel of wine fell off of a cart going up a hill, and rolled down the street only to smash at the bottom, again to the accompanying odor. The perfume of The Woman of Mystery (Dame Elizabeth Taylor), i.e. Scent of Mystery, was a key element to the story, and involved in the climax of the mystery.
- GoofsWhen Oliver lands the single engine plane, the prop stops in a nearly vertical position. In the next shot, the prop is in a horizontal position. Since the engine had stopped, the prop could have not moved like that.
- 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 creditsThere is a credit for the shoe polish brightening the cast's shoes.
- Alternate versionsIn the UK version of Holiday in Spain, Elizabeth Taylor is credited as Liz Rolyat, (Taylor spelled backwards).
- ConnectionsReferenced in What's My Line?: Peter Lorre (2) (1960)
Featured review
I love the IMDb. Where else can you get people commenting on a film they clearly haven't seen in the way it was first exhibited. Only one commenter claims to have seen it. The others saw a seventy-minute butchered version taped with a video camera aimed at a seventy-millimeter movie screen which is the ONLY time it ever aired on TV (in other words, it was never "sold" to TV). Scent of Mystery was a true oddity, but one I adored. The camera-work and sound recording were unbelievably brilliant, and the film was a lark. The smells were dispensed to each seat via a tube and by the time of the LA run they'd figured out how to "clean" the air between smells and it worked very well. As to Holiday in Spain, here we have people making comments when they clearly know not of what they speak. When Scent flopped big-time, it was sold to the Cinerama corporation. The film was converted into three-panel Cinerama, cut by twenty-five minutes (making its plot completely incoherent - of course, this is the version people are commenting on - well, not exactly - their commenting on the shortened version which was further shortened for its one-time TV showing), narration by Elliot was added (terrible), and the intermission point, which in the original was sublime, was moved up by twenty minutes and made no sense at all. Given that all but one of the commentators here have only seen the dreck that they showed on TV (completely faded print and missing sixty percent of its image), well, I find it a bit galling. The Todd AO image was and is stunning, the director of the film was the great cameraman, Jack Cardiff. And the sound - amazing eight track Todd-Belock sound system which, to my mind, has never been bettered. Not by Dolby, not by DTS, not by anything. And, just in case you think my memory may be faulty, I have just this day watched a seventy-millimeter print of the film, the shortened (but not as short as TV) Holiday in Spain - and that sound blew me away.
So, at this time, Scent Of Mystery is a lost film. It's never even been printed down to 35mm. It is uncertain whether any 70mm elements survive for the uncut Scent - there are 70mm elements (and even YCMs) for Holiday in Spain. If the uncut neg can be found, I am here to tell you there are plans afoot for a DVD.
So, at this time, Scent Of Mystery is a lost film. It's never even been printed down to 35mm. It is uncertain whether any 70mm elements survive for the uncut Scent - there are 70mm elements (and even YCMs) for Holiday in Spain. If the uncut neg can be found, I am here to tell you there are plans afoot for a DVD.
- whitesheik
- Dec 20, 2004
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Michael Todd, Jr's Holiday in Spain
- Filming locations
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime2 hours 5 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.59 : 1
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