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Theater owners have been trying to use smell as a way to heighten the cinematic experience since before "talkies" came into existence, and from the late 1920s until the early 1960s, many attempts were made to add smell to the mix to make things more immersive and memorable for audiences. There was even a so-called "battle of the smellies" between multiple companies vying to dominate this niche market. One of the contenders, Smell-o-Vision, crashed and burned after 1960's mystery comedy "Scent of Mystery" didn't live up to its potential, and later, the technology was listed on a Time reader survey of the Top 100 Worst Ideas of the 20th Century. 

Some filmmakers, like John Waters and Robert Rodriguez, have leaned into the smell idea, making movies where scratch-and-sniff cards were handed out to audiences as they entered the theater, and Regal's 4Dx system currently utilizes a smell component. But now,...

Australian writer-producer Tammy Burnstock has been fascinated by the world.s first and only .Smell-o-Vision. feature ever since she interviewed its director/cinematographer Jack Cardiff in 1986.

Now Burnstock is part of the team that aims to screen a restored version of Scent of Mystery, retitled Holiday in Spain, to cinema audiences around the world including Australia.

Released in 1960, the film starred Denholm Elliott as a mystery novelist who discovers a plan to murder an American heiress (Beverly Bentley) while on vacation in Spain. He enlists the help of a local taxi driver (Peter Lorre) to try to thwart the crime. The cast included Leo McKern, Diana Dors and Paul Lukas.

Cardiff and producer Mike Todd Jr. updated a system invented by a Swiss man, Dr. Hans Laube, which piped artificial scents through a network of tubes to the back of each seat in a theatre.

Laube first demonstrated his .Scentovision...

Marilyn Monroe's favourite moviemaker Jack Cardiff has died, aged 94.

The Oscar-winning cinematographer and director was best known for his work on movies such as The African Queen and Sons & Lovers.

He started his movie career as an actor in 1918 silent film My Son, My Son but made his breakthrough as a cinematographer 20 years later on Wings of The Morning - the first colour movie shot in Britain.

He won an Oscar for his work on Black Narcissus in 1947 and teamed up with Monroe a decade later for The Prince and the Showgirl.

Cardiff also directed the first film in Smell-o-Vision, Scent of Mystery in 1960 and cult movie Girl on A Motorcycle in 1968.

He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2000 and was presented with an Honorary Oscar in 2001.