This film is now about 80 years old and it refers to a time about 80 years before that. Much of the dialog is kind of Dickensian and all spoken with British accents. Yes its slow developing at first but at least this gives you a good introduction to the characters, much as a novel might do. But it proves again one fact that has been well known for 150 years: Charles Dickens was a heck of a storyteller.

One of the foundation stones of mystery film making, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" still holds up in its mystery elements (murder, cemetery, crypt, fog, etc.)

Claude Rains is bravura in a complex role. Sweet-faced Heather Angel, Douglass Montgomery and David Manners provide fresh, youthful energy. All of the performers bring Dickens' vivid characters to life.

E.E.Clive gives one of his gem-like performances in a small part. Its a pleasure to let yourself go back in time as you enter the long-lost world of Dickens and this long-lost film making art.

I just watched this one the other night again. I don't know how the entirety of "Mystery of Edwin Drood" got past the censors and the production code that was only a year old at the time. John Jasper (Claude Rains) is a choirmaster who frequents an opium den because he cannot deal with what he feels is the hypocrisy and ennui of church life. He even talks about how he envies the monks of old because at least they got to carve figures of demons as church decorations to release their dark side. The only spot of brightness in Jasper's life is Rosa Bud - folks I didn't come up with this name - who has been pledged to Jasper's nephew (David Manners as Edwin Drood) since the two were children. Yet Jasper still covets her as she becomes a young woman. Edwin and Rosa have always been friends, but seem to be approaching this marriage with all of the enthusiasm of somebody who is facing a root canal.

Meanwhile, Neville and Helena Landless, a brother and sister of mixed racial heritage from Ceylon, come to town. With Nevile and Rosa it is almost love at first sight, but Neville realizes she is spoken for. Rosa and Edwin break their engagement, based on the fact that they eventually realize that their marriage was their parents' dreams, not their own. Earlier, Jasper has announced his love to Rosa in a very creepy way, and she is repulsed by his stalking. Jasper assumes that it is Edwin that is standing in his way, and that night, Christmas Eve, Edwin Drood disappears before anybody can be told of his broken engagement. What happened to Edwin Drood? That is the mystery. Watch and find out.

This thing is just a huge code buster all around - that is part of its allure. Although the wrongdoers are punished in the end, the biracial love angle and the fact that there could be a hypocrite in a position of authority in the church violates the production code completely. There is also that great Universal Gothic atmosphere plus the acting is top notch. I highly recommend it.

1935's "Mystery of Edwin Drood" was Universal's followup to their equally lavish Dickens adaptation "Great Expectations," on par with later efforts such as "Tower of London" and "The House of the Seven Gables." The unfinished 1870 story certainly begged for a proper solution, baffling bibliophiles over the decades, but this film's weakest flaw is that its depiction is fatally predictable. We are shown right away the drug-addled choirmaster John Jasper (Claude Rains), whose frequent illnesses are a mask for his addiction to opium (a welcome touch seemingly missed by the Hays code). Jasper's secret desire for his lovely young ward Rosa Bud (Heather Angel) is clearly no surprise to her, his piercing gaze sending her into paroxysms of fear, and since she has been betrothed since childhood to Jasper's beloved nephew Edwin Drood (David Manners), evil thoughts begin to grow in the older man's mind. Enter Neville Landless (Douglass Montgomery) and his beautiful sister Helena (Valerie Hobson), recent arrivals from Ceylon, allowing Jasper to foment an acrimonious rivalry over Rosa between the hot tempered Neville (who has quickly fallen for her) and her intended groom. There are precious few surprises in the script as written, so it's up to the excellent cast to carry the day. With so many Dickensian characters surrounding him, Claude Rains actually winds up in a subordinate role, while Douglass Montgomery, typecast in romantic parts, relishes the opportunity for some real scenery chewing in disguise (he enjoyed another in 1939's "The Cat and the Canary."). Heather Angel had two future genre titles ahead, 1942's "The Undying Monster" and 1962's "Premature Burial," while 17 year old Valerie Hobson was apparently Universal's busiest starlet of 1935, immediately rejoining director Stuart Walker on "WereWolf of London" (along with Zeffie Tilbury, Ethel Griffies, Vera Buckland, and J. M. Kerrigan). David Manners bid farewell to Universal here, completing just five more low budget features before quitting Hollywood by 1937. Look fast for unbilled bits from Will Geer, lighting lamps 44 minutes in, and Walter Brennan, gossiping about Neville Landless at the 30 minute mark. Despite its inclusion in Universal's popular SHOCK! television package of the late 50s, "Mystery of Edwin Drood" never once made the rounds on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, a fate that also befell 1935's "The Great Impersonation," 1938's "The Last Warning," 1939's "The Witness Vanishes," and 1942's "Mystery of Marie Roget."