And the cast appears to be having a ball. A genuinely intriguing mystery rather than a half-baked whodunit devoid of psychological complexity wouldn’t hurt either.ĭirector Scott Ellis, set designer Anna Louizos and costumer William Ivey Long all do fine work conjuring London’s Music Hall Royale in 1895, its gaudy painted flats encased in a gold proscenium that includes boxes for onlookers. A vehicle running 2½ hours needs more memorable songs than these mostly interchangeable parlor ditties, and more engaging characters than this bunch, which by design, are cardboard cutouts enlivened by melodramatic flourishes. Holmes’ show scores points for ingenuity, but it often feels like being stuck for too long in front of an olde-worlde department-store window display. The competition for chief honors that year was the Andrew Lloyd Webber concept piece Song & Dance, the subpar Bob Fosse assembly Big Deal, and the dance revue Tango Argentino, none of which muscled into the musical- theater pantheon. But with one or two notable exceptions, the mid-‘80s was a lackluster time for the original musical. It swept the top Tony Awards in its categories, winning for best musical, score, book, direction and lead actor. Transferred to Broadway after debuting outdoors as a Shakespeare in the Park production, the show’s title was officially simplified to Drood midway through its premiere run. Clive and Zeffie Tilbury also are impressive in supporting roles." Butler stated that The Mystery of Edwin Drood "may not be a great film, but the actors make it decent entertainment.Inga Swenson, Actress on Broadway and Gretchen the Cook on 'Benson,' Dies at 90 Douglass Montgomery is quite good in a dual role, and Heather Angel is appropriately lovely and timid. In a modern-day retrospective review, Craig Butler of AllMovie stated that "the film's screenplay, which is too often predictable and too seldom surprising" and that Stuart Walker had directed the film "efficiently and with a touch of flair here and there it's not outstanding work." Butler concluded: "Where Drood shines is in its cast, led by a typically marvelous Claude Rains, who conveys the lust, shame, desperation, and determination of his character with aplomb. William Boehnel of The New York World-Telegram declared the film "a thoroughly entertaining, exciting and atmospherically fine screen version of the novel." Eileen Creelman of the New York Sun declared it "a gruesome melodrama with enough action and background mystery to make it go." Bland Johaneson of the New York Daily Mirror declared the film "handsomely produced and acted" and that it would hold audiences in "complete interest." Īndre Sennwald of The New York Times declared that " combination of adroit direction and acting isn't strong enough to overcome an essentially weak narrative." In the United Kingdom, Kinematograph Weekly said that "Individual acting is very good, and the atmosphere is faithful in detail, but neither can invest the story development with strong suspense nor preserve its secret," concluding that "There is no denying that Claude Rains is a brilliant actor, this does not prevent his mannerisms and inflections from becoming a trifle monotonous." The film was generally well received by critics upon its release. In the book Universal Horrors, the film is described as "neither an all-out horror story nor a puzzling whodunnit" and defined in contemporary terms as "a quaintly charming and atmospheric Victorian melodrama" lacking real suspense. The film was released by Universal Pictures on February 4, 1935. it was not a good movie at all." Reception It has no unity." When asked about The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Manners responded that ". Movies, you do little bits and you don't know where it fits in. You see, in a play you become the play, because you start in the beginning and end up at the end of the script. In later years, Manners said: " didn't like movies. The film was the last for David Manners, who plays Edwin Drood. Production began on November 12, 1934, and continued until January 1935. The film's shooting was initially delayed because of casting difficulties. A set was built in Universal's backlot that was the largest for the studio since the filming of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. According to Universal publicity, the studio's London office shot thousands of feet of film and took numerous still shots of Victorian-style structures in Rochester in 1934 for the film. Universal afforded the film a budget of $215,375 and developed an aggressive advertising campaign to exploit the novel's unresolved ending. Universal Pictures was enthusiastic about adapting The Mystery of Edwin Drood and exploiting its lack of a finale.
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