At 3pm on the last Sunday of the Summer during the Dickens festival held in early June each year, a garland of scarlet geraniums (his favourite flowers) are laid here during a service commemorating his life. Inside the Cathedral, to the right of the Presbytery, by the magnificent Chapter room door, is another brass plaque memorial to Dickens. The spot is marked with a commemorative plaque and Dickens’s ghost is said to haunt the area. The author expressed a wish to be buried opposite the west front in the Castle moat which then formed part of the graveyard of St Nicholas Church. Rochester Cathedral is of special significance regarding Charles Dickens.
#Edwin drood movie tv#
Her final TV appearance was 6 years before her death in The Great Inimitable Mr Dickens, a story of the life of the author starring Anthony Hopkins. Famous actress Dame Sybil Thorndike lived at number 2 Minor Canon Row after growing up in Rochester City. A row of Edwardian houses near the Cathedral called Minor Canon Row also appears in the film as Cloisterham streets. Dickens was inspired by Rochesterwhen writing many of his novels, including The Mystery of Edwin Drood, so it was only fitting for Director Timothy Forder to shoot the film in the great city itself.įamiliar Rochester sites will include Rochester Cathedral which doubled as Cloisterham Cathedral as well as Rochester Castle, which can be seen in the background of many shots. Much of the film is set in the fictional city of “Cloisterham”. However Dickens’ died after the publication of the sixth instalment, leaving the story approximately half complete. The Mystery of Edwin Drood was scheduled to be published in twelve monthly instalments, each costing one shilling. Landless and Drood take an instant dislike to one another just before Drood disappears under mysterious circumstances. Miss Bud is Edwin Drood’s fiancé, but she has also caught the eye of the hot tempered Neville Landless who arrives with his sister Helena. Although both story and film are named for Edwin Drood, the narrative focuses on Drood’s uncle, choirmaster John Jasper, who is in love with his pupil Rosa Bud. Kent Locations Used: Rochester Cathedral, Rochesterįamed as Dickens’ unfinished novel, the acclaimed author died in 1870 leaving the ending of the book a mystery forever. Starring: Robert Powell, Gareth Arnold, Gemma Craven & Michelle Evans. Written By: Charles Dickens (Novel) and Timothy Forder (Adaptation) I kept seeing places I knew well.The Mystery of Edwin Drood movieposter 1993 © A&E Home Video I have been into the cathedral and around the town many times.This was filmed in the streets of Rochester and particularly in the cathedral. What attracted me to this and added to my enjoyment is that I happen to know Rochester in Kent very well. Why should a novel have a likeable hero anyway? Life is not like that. There are no sympathetic characters in this story which is no bad thing. I thought the darkness of the plot was kept throughout. Maybe Gwyneth Hughes was playing with a 21st century analysis of Victorian society in this respect. The shock value to a Victorian readership in this country would have been very real. It would have shocked, if indeed Dicken’s had written this ending and brought up all sorts of questions of intermarriage and interrelationships, which did happen in India during the days of the empire. I seemed so plausible and the twist with them all being related at the end was very clever. I thought the story had a seamless quality. I can see how Gwyneth Hughes’s plot ending and changes might upset some people because it is not what they would have done. Dickens gives you enough to guess what will happen.įirst of all I must admit, I have not read Edwin Drood so I came to this open minded. Masterpiece could have made such a better story if they’d just looked to the original story and go in the direction it was leading.
#Edwin drood movie movie#
The movie with Claude Rains is far superior. and everyone is related to everyone else? What a stupid twist to make the Landlesses the bastard children of Drood’s father. The screenwriter started out ok, and then totally messed with Dickens story as it was written by Dickens and destroyed the mystery…. It can’t be expressed how disappointed we were to see how the story was bastardized. So it was with great curiosity to see BBC’s version. The author who donned a finish picked up where Dickens left off (Chapter 22 I believe). It had been finished, naturally, but thankfully the Dickens portion untouched and identified as such. In the last year we got our hands on the book and read it. The original movie of the Mystery of Edwin Drood with Claude Rains has been one of our favorites for years.
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