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Film: The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Year: 1935
Director: Stuart Walker
Writers: John L. Balderston and Gladys Unger
Starring: Claude Rains, Douglass Montgomery and Heather Angel
Review:
This was a film that I had trouble finding originally when I was compiling the list of horror films from 1935. What shocked me was that when this started up, I learned that this is from Universal. Other than knowing the title, year and just matching up the cast to ensure I had the correct movie, I came into this one blind.
Synopsis: an opium-addicted choirmaster develops an obsession for a beautiful young girl and will not stop short of murder to have her.
We start this off with a surreal nightmare. John Jasper (Claude Rains) is the man that is experiencing it. Now I’ll be honest, I was a bit confused with this opening scene. It wasn’t until he came back to this place later that it clicked to me that he visited an opium den. What we’ll learn is that he’s haunted by the feeling he has for Rosa Bud (Heather Angel). This is complicated since his nephew, Edwin Drood (David Manners), is engaged to marry her soon. It is also wild that we see John in church immediately after his visit to this establishment.
It is here that we start to meet the other important people in town. Rosa and Edwin do not have any chemistry. They were arranged to marry from their childhood. They don’t seem to truly have feelings like that. Things get more complicated when Neville (Douglass Montgomery) and his sister, Helena Landless (Valerie Hobson), move to town. Their parents tragically passed away. Neville has anger issues so he is coming to live with Rev. Mr. Septimus Crisparkle (Francis L. Sullivan).
On the siblings' journey into town, Neville met Rosa and fell in love instantly. She reciprocates these feelings. There is her pledge though to Edwin. Helena will attend the same school as Rosa. All the while, we have John wanting her. She even tells Edwin how creeped out she feels around his uncle. He laughs it off, thinking that John is just intense and means nothing by it.
There is one stormy night where Neville and Edwin make up. They butted heads when the former came to town, but coming to realize why they were at ends isn’t worth it anymore. The problem is that when they part ways, Edwin disappears. John accuses Neville and from his history as well as him attacking Edwin the first night in town, he is the prime suspect. There is more that is going on here as Neville does everything, he can clear his name before it is too late.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’ll start is that during the opening credits, I saw that this is from a novel by Charles Dickens. What I didn’t realize until settling in to write my review was that this was an unfinished novel. It does appear that he passed away before completing it. It does make me wonder how much was in the source material and how much was this film just needing to tell a complete story. Regardless, Dickens is an all-time great so checking out an adaptation of his work is noteworthy.
Now that I’ve set that up, let’s delve into what is interesting. I figured that Edwin would be our lead character from the title. He is important to set the stage, but he disappears at the midway point. It does become a murder mystery from there with Neville trying to prove his innocence. This did a good job at setting him up as a hot head. Upon arriving into town we see his interaction with Septimus. There is heart there when he takes him aside, tells him the plan that he and his sister had to get into a quarrel with him and then flee into the night. Having met Rosa, he wanted to get to know her so this caused his change of heart. It also makes us as the audience watching question things. The same for the police in the world the film takes place in. It was a good touch to develop Neville’s character. Credit Montgomery as well for bringing life to the role.
There is then the actual main character of John. This would be after Rains was the Invisible Man. He wakes up in this opium den, has a freakout while this woman who runs the place, played by Zeffie Tilbury, watches him. I love the transition over to the fact that he leads the choir in church, showing that his public persona that he shows hides this darker part of him. Now there is something here that could be developed as to why. I could have also missed it. It isn’t important but I do think it could provide a bit more insight. There is this subtle introduction into him being creepy toward Rosa and making her uncomfortable. I’m a fan of Rains and how he handles this character was great.
The last bit for the story is that this story is built around unrequited love and the anger that festers from it. There is this great scene that didn’t click to me that makes everything fall into place. What I’ll say is that John gets a tour of the cemetery and the crypts by its caretaker, Durdles (Forrester Harvey). He passes out, John takes his key and continues on. How this comes back into play later was good. I didn’t necessarily expect this to go as bleak as it did so credit to Universal for this early film.
What I do think makes this work would be the acting performances. I’ve already said that Rains and Montgomery are the two best. They are given more to work with as well as to develop their characters. Angel is fine as the catalyst. She is engaged to Edwin, but has fallen for Neville who feels the same and John is obsessed with her. She doesn’t have much depth apart from that. Another underutilized role was Hobson’s Helena. She is there when they come to town and she does fight to prove that Neville is innocent. That is limited though. Sullivan, Tilbury, Harvey and E.E. Clive headlines the rest of the cast. They’re solid in support.
All that is left then is filmmaking. I do think that in general this is well made. I thought they captured this little town well. Everyone knows everyone’s business. They do play this for laughs when Edwin visits Rosa at her school. Her classmates keep interrupting to get trivial items. The cinematography and framing were fine other than that. The technology was limited so there is that. We don’t get many effects either but I did like the editing to show the surreal nightmares that John experiences. That was a good touch in developing his broken psyche. The soundtrack and design were also fine for what was needed.
In conclusion, this is a solid film that benefits greatly from its strong acting performances, particularly from Rains and Montgomery. While based on an unfinished novel, the movie manages to craft a compelling and surprisingly bleak murder mystery. The well-executed cinematography and editing, especially in depicting John's disturbed psyche, further enhanced the experience. Despite some minor character depth issues, this Universal production is certainly worth watching for fans of early horror and classic adaptations, especially if you’re doing a bit deeper of a dive into lesser discussed titles.
My Rating: 7 out of 10