Based on Charles Dickens novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the story of man addicted to opium who is obsessed with a beautiful young girl and is willing to commit murder to have her. Charles Dickens passed away before he could finish his novel, but the film was made despite the lack of an ending. The movie features some lavish sets, and costumes, stunning cinematography, and the superior acting skills of the iconic Claude Rains who by 1935, was already a superstar!
Claude Rains (The Invisible Man) stars as John Jasper, a choirmaster at a finishing school in Victorian England, who has a secret life that includes paying frequent visits to an opium den. His mind, tormented from the opium, becomes obsessed with a young student, Rosa Bud (Heather Angel, Bulldog Drummond Escapes, It Happened in New York), who is engaged to his nephew Edwin Drood(David Manners, The Mummy, The Perfect Clue). She loves him but not as much as Neville Landless (Douglass Montgomery, The Cat and the Canary, A House Divided). In fact, Edwin and Douglass have a small tussle over Rosa. The two do make-up but suddenly Edwin disappears and later is discovered he has been murdered. Did Neville murder him or did someone else commit the crime in a plot to have Rosa all to himself?
Mystery of Edwin Drood is a fantastic costume crime drama with the actors handing in superior efforts. Claude Rains is outstanding as John Jasper who goes over-the-top under the influence of opium.
Mystery of Edwin Drood debuts on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. You can now retire the awful Universal Vault Series MOD as this release, even though there is some speckling and other age-related issues on this Blu-ray, they are minor. The Blu-ray image has been given a 2K scan and overall, it looks fantastic and does look polished. The greyscale is balanced with inky blacks, clear whites, and excellent shadow detail. The outstanding cinematography by George Robinson really shines on this release. I would like to acknowledge that Mystery of Edwin Drood does not have the word “The” in front of it at the films’ start but appears on the Blu-ray case.
The English DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack also sounds fine with dialogue, Edward Ward’s musical scores and other background action sounds coming in crisp and clear. No age-related anomalies such as drop-offs or hissing were detected. English subtitles are available for this offering.
This release by Kino Lorber has a commentary track by iconic film historian David Del Valle. He gives his usual enthusiastic information about the film. He is always worth a listen. There are also trailers for other Kino Lorber releases which include The Eagle and the Hawk, Supernatural, The Undying Monster, The Spider Woman Strikes Back and The Mad Doctor.
I really enjoy this movie, it has a nice atmosphere with some great acting, and superb story. The Blu-ray audio and video is superior to the DVD, plus this release has an audio commentary by one of the all-time greats, David Del Valle! Highly recommend!
Mystery of Edwin Drood
Director- Stuart Walker
Cast- Claude Rains, David Manners, Heather Angel
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –12/11/2021