Mystery of Edwin Drood

Mystery of Edwin Drood is a 1935 film directed by Stuart Walker and starring Claude Rains in the role of the villainous John Jasper. It is the third film adaptation and first sound film version of Charles Dickens's unfinished novel of the same name. Filmed by Universal Pictures, it co-stars Douglass Montgomery and Valerie Hobson (the future Estella of David Lean's 1946 Great Expectations), and featured David Manners as Edwin Drood. Stuart Walker had previously directed a little-known 1934 film adaptation of Great Expectations. The film's script provides an ending to the original unfinished novel, solving the mystery of the fate of Edwin Drood. Mystery of Edwin Drood marks Claude Rains' only appearance in a Charles Dickens film.