Smell-o-vision Returns

The BBC reports that "Screenings of Colin Farrell's latest film will be accompanied by a series of smells at a cinema in Japan." (via HuffPo) Seven fragrances will waft from machines under back row seats, during the screening of historical adventure The New World. A floral smell will accompany love scenes, with a mixture of peppermint and rosemary for tear-jerking moments. Cinemas across the country will be able to download programmes to control various sequences of fragrances for other upcoming films. --- Smell-O-Vision was a movie presentation enhancement technology initiated in 1960 by Mike Todd, Jr., son of famed film director Mike Todd, Sr. Bottles of scent were held on a rotating drum and the process was triggered by a signal on the film's soundtrack. Scent of a Mystery was the only film ever made using Smell-O-Vision. Odorama was the name of the presentation which director John Waters employed for screenings of his 1980 film Polyester, whereby individual audience "Scratch and Sniff" cards were used. Aroma-rama was another one-film technology, used for the screening of 1958 documentary Behind the Great Wall (narrated by Chet Huntley!). This process relied on odors being pumped through a theatre's air conditioning vents, during the movie.