A Dickens Mystery Best Left Unsolved
The Mystery of
Edwin Drood is the final
novel by Charles Dickens. The novel was unfinished at the time of Dickens'
death and his ending for it remains unknown. Consequently, the identity of the
murderer remains subject to debate.
Though the
novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, the story focuses on Drood's
uncle, choirmaster John Jasper, who is in love with his pupil, Rosa Bud. Miss
Bud is Drood's fiancée who has also caught the eye of the high-spirited and
hot-tempered Neville Landless, who comes from Ceylon with his twin sister,
Helena. Landless and Drood take an instant dislike to one another. Drood later
disappears under mysterious circumstances.
Supplying a
conclusion to The Mystery of Edwin Drood has occupied writers from the
time of Dickens's death to the present day.
To date, there
have been four film adaptations of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The first
two were silent pictures released in 1909 and 1914. They are unavailable to the
general public and have been little-seen since they were released. These were
followed by:
-
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) released by Universal Pictures
and directed by Stuart Walker, starring Claude Rains, Douglass Montgomery,
Heather Angel, Valerie Hobson, and David Manners.
- The
Mystery of Edwin Drood (1993) starring Robert Powell as
"John Jasper".