Excellent review for Scent Of Mystery from Film Score Monthly:
Scent of Mystery (1960) *** 1/2
MARIO NASCIMBENE/JORDAN RAMIN
Kritzerland KR 20011-7
14 tracks - 35:39
Bruce Kimmel’s label has released this much sought-after ’60s oddity featuring music mostly by Mario Nascimbene, with additional material by Jordan Ramin. The album also boasts two songs with lyrics by Harold Adamson, sung by Eddie Fisher. Scent of Mystery was unique for its time, as it was the first film to be shown (at least in New York) in glorious Smell-o-vision. On that note, the CD booklet even allows you to have an aromatic experience while reading the notes.
Nascimbene scores the strange little comic mystery with a heavy helping of jazz, including a prominent Gershwin-esque clarinet solo early on. Meanwhile, carefully detailed orchestral writing emphasizes the film’s comedy aspects; there is even a bit of Ravelian scoring for piccolo, flute and bassoon in a medley that accompanies a street stroll. It’s all deliciously wonderful, capturing the joie de vivre of the film’s light-hearted approach with colorful orchestrations that also hint at the locale. A few well-placed car horns (especially for “The Chase”) make for humorous additional color.
Scent of Mystery was the single release from Ramrod Records and originally featured a mono pressing (a few made it out in stereo). For this CD release, Kritzerland presents the score in perfect stereo. This unexpected pleasure is easily recommended for fans of jazz scores of the ’60s, and is worth tracking down in this limited (1,000) edition available from the label’s website:
www.kritzerland.com. You can go there to hear some clips as well, just in case you need more encouragement. —Steven A. Kennedy
