What if you could SMELL your movies? What if the protagonist walked on screen and you recognized their smell as much as their musical motif? This episode, Karen tells us about the history of Smell-O-Vision and how it briefly came to light in the movie theatre.
For a starting place, let’s begin with Wikipedia’s Smell-O-Vision History Page. It’s the basic timeline of scented cinema from 1906 rose oil experiments to the 1960 disaster premiere. It gets into the tech, the rivalry with AromaRama, and why Time magazine eventually called it one of the worst ideas ever. It’s a good starting point if you want the broad strokes without getting too deep in the weeds.
Hans Laube Biography on in70mm.com is a personal reflection on the Swiss inventor who made Smell-O-Vision happen. It gets into his background as an osmologist and how he developed the technology that pumped scents through theater seats. As well as lots of other things about him as well.
We also talked about the movie The Scent of Mystery, which was made to be the first real movie using Smell-o-Vision. This is an interview with the director and cinematographer, Jack Cardiff. talking about making the film. He discusses working with the Smell-O-Vision technology, how the movie was written around the smells instead of the other way around, and his growing realization during production that the scents weren’t delivering what they promised. It’s a good behind-the-scenes look at what it was actually like to shoot a movie dependent on a gimmick that was falling apart.
Variety’s 1959 Review of Scent of Mystery is the contemporary critical response to the first and only Smell-O-Vision film. It covers how the premiere went down, which smells worked and which bombed, and the technical problems with the system.
Behind the Scenes of Scent of Mystery YouTube Video is a documentary about the 2015 recreation of Smell-O-Vision screenings in Bradford and Copenhagen. It shows volunteers prepping 307 vials of scent, testing battery-powered fans, and coordinating who releases which smell when during the movie. Good if you want to see what it actually looks like to make this work in a theater and hear from audience members about whether the smells landed or failed.
The Lingering Reek of Smell-O-Vision on LA Times is a 2006 article breaking down the premiere disaster. It talks about the hissing pipes, scents showing up at the wrong time, and how the audience basically hated it. Good read if you want the play-by-play of opening night going sideways.
Here’s some extra reading for free if you’re interested. Inventing the Movies is a book about Hollywood’s history of innovation and resistance to new technology from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs. It covers the battles between people trying to push cinema forward and the industry trying to keep things the same. Good for broader context on how Hollywood deals with gimmicks and tech that threatens the status quo. There’s a chapter in here about Smell-o-Vision Karen used, and the book is free on Archive.org for you to read.
Smells and Memory on Cleveland Clinic is an explainer on why scents trigger memories and emotions so strongly. It breaks down the brain science behind how smell connects to memory and why those connections are more emotional than visual ones. Useful for understanding why anyone thought Smell-O-Vision could actually work as a storytelling tool. This is another bonus reading material.
In Glorious Smell-O-Vision Documentary on Scented Storytelling is a 2020 film by Tammy Burnstock about Hans Laube and the rise and fall of scented cinema. It digs into why Scent of Mystery was both the first and last Smell-O-Vision movie and includes actual scented screenings where audiences smell the original scents plus new ones. There’s a link at the bottom of the page on this one where it asks you to contact the person in charge of it to get it if you want to experience it!
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