The Mystery of Edwin Drood

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The Mystery of Edwin Drood

1935

1h 25m

Mystery & Thriller

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Popcornmeter

63%

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8 Reviews

14%

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

In England, school choirmaster John Jasper (Claude Rains), a secret opium addict, develops a passion for Rosa Bud (Heather Angel), the fiancée of his nephew, Edwin Drood (David Manners). When the Landless twins -- the volatile Neville (Douglass Montgomery) and Helena (Valerie Hobson) -- arrive at the school from Ceylon, Neville takes an interest in Rosa as well. After John invites Edwin and Neville to dinner to reconcile them over Rosa, Edwin disappears, and John accuses Neville of foul play.

Andre Sennwald

New York Times

This Mystery of Edwin Drood, though it adds nothing of consequence to the great mystery, is good Dickens and a genuinely fine horror story in the bargain.

Feb 4, 2021

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Christopher Lloyd

The Film Yap

Dickens' final, unfinished novel was turned into a dark, brooding horror-adjacent film about an uncle who covets his nephew's fiance.

Rated: 3.5

Mar 7, 2022

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Peter Canavese

Celluloid Dreams

Charles Dickens' unfinished novel receives a somewhat mediocre, but fairly entertaining treatment in this Kino Lorber Studio Classics blu-ray highlighted by a strong central performance by Claude Rains.

Rated: 2.5/4

Jan 6, 2022

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Lauren Humphries-Brooks

Citizen Dame

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is far from the best Dickens adaptation of the period, but it does give life to a story that has always been a little loose and truncated.

Nov 18, 2021

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Campbell Nairne

Cinema Quarterly

By partially divesting Edwin Drood of its caricatured characters, Universal pull it down to the level of a second-rate thriller.

Feb 4, 2021

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Meyer Levin (Patterson Murphy)

Esquire Magazine

More Dickens, more Christmas carols emanating from snow-thatched cathedrals, while strange doings go on under the arches. Claude Rains works hard, but he's had better parts.

Apr 17, 2020

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Blu B

It's barely ok honestly. Like it limped across the passable line. The acting is wooden and that ""Classic" style of acting. Raines isn't even in this for half the film. The two quarreling male lovers get most of the time and other side characters. The first half is a boring romance and the second is kind of like a horror/murder mystery type of plot. It sort of works kind of but it's a complete change when it does. The direction/cinematography is very forgettable. It's not moody or atmospheric even in the second half when it gets darker. The subject matter of drugs and Raines character feels completely butchered probably as a result of the Hayes Code. It feels like you could almost miss he's a drug addict entirely because of how this BARELY addresses such a important plot point. So I think it tried to make up for it by focusing more on the love triangle aspects which...does the bare minimum for a serviceable story. Maybe if a better director of the time like James Whale or Hitchcock had handled this than maybe they could've done quite a bit better. But as it is, it's slow, boring, never builds tension, and is just very forgettable overall. Skip This. This is something that should been made in 1975 not 35'.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/01/25

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Steve D

The clunky script is the killer.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/05/24

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Audience Member

A Charles Dickens movie i never heard of. A bit Gothic.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

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Audience Member

Starts out impressively then quickly becomes run-of-the-mill.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Stuart Walker

Director

Claude Rains

John Jasper

Douglass Montgomery

Neville Landless

Heather Angel

Rosa Bud

David Manners

Edwin Drood

Valerie Hobson

Helena Landless

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Synopsis

In England, school choirmaster John Jasper (Claude Rains), a secret opium addict, develops a passion for Rosa Bud (Heather Angel), the fiancée of his nephew, Edwin Drood (David Manners). When the Landless twins -- the volatile Neville (Douglass Montgomery) and Helena (Valerie Hobson) -- arrive at the school from Ceylon, Neville takes an interest in Rosa as well. After John invites Edwin and Neville to dinner to reconcile them over Rosa, Edwin disappears, and John accuses Neville of foul play.

Director: Stuart Walker
Producer: Edmund Grainger
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (DVD): Oct 16, 2014
Runtime: 1h 25m