{"id":10245,"date":"2014-12-15T14:10:01","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T19:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=10245"},"modified":"2014-12-15T14:10:01","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T19:10:01","slug":"cd-scent-of-mystery-1960","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=10245","title":{"rendered":"CD: Scent of Mystery (1960)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ScentOfMysteryCD_s\"<\/a>Score<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label<\/strong>: Kritzerland<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong> \u00a0September 8, 2008<\/span><\/p>\n

Tracks \/ Album Length:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a014 tracks \/ (35:37)<\/p>\n

Composer:<\/strong>\u00a0Mario Nascimbene, Jordan Ramin (and lyrics by Harold Adamson)<\/p>\n

Special Notes:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a012-page colour booklet with liner notes by CD producer Bruce Kimmel \/ limited to 1000 copies.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Long a top collectible LP, Kritzerland’s limited CD rescues a very rare Mario Nascimbene score from oblivion, as well as providing some details on an even more rare film \u2013 the first and only movie presented in the branded Smell-O-Vision process – which ran for a few weeks in NYC and disappeared for several decades, popping up now and then (in print) as a footnote in film books, as well as achieving some notoriety in the Medved brothers’\u00a0Golden Turkey Awards\u00a0<\/strong>book (the film honored in the \u2018most unwanted technical innovation in film history’ chapter, only to lose out to William Castle’s Percepto, if memory serves correct).<\/p>\n

The elements within\u00a0<\/span>Scent of Mystery\u00a0<\/strong>include comedy, romance, an imminent murder, and a huge widescreen panorama in 70mm. Directed by famed Technicolor cinematographer Jack Cardiff (<\/span>The Red Shoes<\/a><\/strong>),\u00a0<\/span>Scent\u00a0<\/strong>was imbued with the elegant, expansive, colour-saturated imagery shot throughout various locations in Spain, and if one\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0forgets\u00a0Scent\u00a0<\/strong>‘s smelly origins \u2013 the only feature film shown in theatres equipped with pipes that poured out 30 (!) separate scents \u2013 it’s actually easy to revel in Nascimbene’s gorgeous music.<\/p>\n

Kritzerland reproduces the contents of the original Ramrod LP release (meaning the selections clock in just a hair over 35 mins, and each LP side begins with a theme recap), but the cues provide a good sampling of the film’s fluffy tone and lofty narrative, as well as Nascimbene’s skill at thematic diversity, and writing in a light orchestral pop-jazz style.<\/p>\n

Known for grand Roman adventure dramas (Carthage in Flames<\/strong>), over-wrought melodramas (The Barefoot Contessa<\/strong>), and fiddling with electronic and concrete sounds in more striking works (Barabbas<\/strong>, and\u00a0One Million Years B.C.<\/strong>),\u00a0Scent\u00a0<\/strong>is anchored around two main themes that, unlike some of the composer’s prior soundtrack albums, are not repeated almost verbatim (a common and sometimes grating problem).<\/p>\n

The \u201cOverture,\u201d for example, is a stereophonic tease with inaugural panning effects applied to passing cars and honking horns. Nascimbene propels the \u00a0theme with jazzy cymbal hits, low woodwinds, and lovely flourishes on flutes and brass, and elegant harmonic swells on strings and low brass. \u00a0In the theme’s second recap, “The Chase,” Nascimbene sticks with the sparse instrumentation, and prolongs the use of the car horns in more harsh, comedic terms.<\/p>\n

A march functions as a bridge for the film’s second theme (“Scent of Mystery”), presented in a big orchestral cha-cha version with separate banks of brass and strings conversing over light percussion, before a grand orchestral finale.<\/p>\n

The film’s main title track is \u201cButterfly,\u201d an extraordinary arrangement of the main theme wherein clarinets perform an almost free-form theme version supported by airy, sometimes barely perceptible strings. Meant to underscore a butterfly that flutters over a sprawling garden, the cue is also a bit gimmicky for panning the clarinets left-to-right, and the brief intro and fadeout of a source chant.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrgan Accident\u201d is one of the album’s best cues, and typifies the score’s lofty sense of humour: very intimate use of woodwinds (oboe and flutes, solo xylophone, male whistlers, and a few cartoonish effects tied to a sauntering beat). Because of the film’s comedic tone and travelogue interludes, the cues also change gears at sudden turns, which, in \u201cMedley,\u201d has the whistlers replaced by a Spanish element, conveyed through thick string textures.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiana Dors Blues\u201d is a period cocktail jazz theme for the busty British bombshell, with muted trumpet emphasizing a raw sultry quality, and busy background woodwinds goosing the sex factor (which was already quite robust in 70mm). It’s a short cue (just over 1:40) but it provides some thematic variety, alongside some source cues, like the Spanish flamenco \u201cGuadix Guitar,\u201d a mono recording performed by street musicians tweaked in vintage pseudo-stereo.<\/p>\n

The album’s more overt commercial tracks are Eddie Fisher’s vocal versions of Nascimbene’s two themes, beginning with \u201cScent of Mystery,\u201d with mushy lyrics set to a pop-rockabilly rhythm, trilling strings, electric guitar, and bah-bah-ing male chorus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chase\u201d is more poppish, and contains the dopey chorus \u201cDON’T GO! Wait. Stop.\u201d with even less memorable lyrics than Fisher’s prior vocal. It’s a throwaway track, and if anything, one marvels at the rich orchestrations that support its silly lyrics. The harmonics are lovely, the strings and resonating chimes atmospheric, but one feels the tune is better suited for some toy commercial for a choo-choo train or Tonka toy.<\/p>\n

CD Producer Bruce Kimmel provides excellent liner notes that recap the film’s raison d’etre<\/em>\u00a0as well as its sad disappearance from distribution after being sold, shortened, and reissued as\u00a0Holiday in Spain<\/strong> in 3-panel Cinerama. (The film was ultimately reconstructed and issued in a stunning Blu-ray edition in 2014.)<\/p>\n

The CD booklet also includes gorgeous original campaign art, and a montage of the original 30 smells that according to Kimmel did not coalesce into one big poo cloud by the time Fisher crooned the end credit tune.<\/p>\n

A lovely, sometimes kitschy album that pays tribute to a strange cinematic vision.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2008; edited version 2014 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Additional Links:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — Composer on IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a> —\u00a0 Soundtrack Album<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Film Review<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Select Merchants:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" —<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a>\"\" —\u00a0BSX<\/a> —\u00a0Intrada<\/a> —\u00a0Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long a top collectible LP, Kritzerland’s limited CD rescues a very rare Mario Nascimbene score from oblivion, as well as providing some details on an even more rare film \u2013 the first and only movie presented in the branded Smell-O-Vision process…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[510,3180,3164,3218,3179,757],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2Ff","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10245"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10311,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245\/revisions\/10311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}