214 All That Money Can Buy (AKA The Devil and Daniel Webster)

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cdnchris
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214 All That Money Can Buy (AKA The Devil and Daniel Webster)

#1 Post by cdnchris » Fri Jan 14, 2005 11:12 pm

The Devil and Daniel Webster

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/539/214_box_348x490_w128.jpg[/img]

Jabez Stone is a hard-working farmer trying to make an honest living, but a streak of bad luck tempts him to do the unthinkable: bargain with the Devil himself. For seven years of good fortune, Stone promises "Mr. Scratch" his soul when the contract ends. When the troubled farmer begins to realize the error of his choice, he enlists the aid of the one man who might save him: the legendary orator and politician Daniel Webster. Directed with stylish flair by William Dieterle, The Devil and Daniel Webster brings the classic short story by Stephen Vincent Benét to life with inspired visuals, an unforgettable Oscar-winning score by Bernard Herrmann, and a truly diabolical performance from Walter Huston.

Special Features

-New high-definition digital transfer, with restored image and sound
-Audio commentary by film historian Bruce Eder and Bernard Herrmann biographer Steven C. Smith
-Reading of Stephen Vincent Benét’s short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster" by acclaimed actor/director Alec Baldwin
-Comparison between The Devil and Daniel Webster and the earlier preview version of the film, Here Is a Man
-The Columbia Workshop’s radio dramatizations of Stephen Vincent Benét’s short stories "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and "Daniel Webster and the Sea Serpent," both featuring music by Bernard Herrmann
-The music of The Devil and Daniel Webster, presented in an interactive essay by Christopher Husted of Bernard Herrmann’s estate
-Gallery of behind-the-scenes photos and promotional materials
-New essay by author Tom Piazza and a reprinted article by Benét
-English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
-Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

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djali999
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#2 Post by djali999 » Tue Jan 18, 2005 2:15 am

You know, usually the flag-waving Patriotism of the like displayed at the climax of this film would annoy me, but it's in a very 'folklore' type setting, the artificality of which (combined with the characters) tends to displace any intended patriotic 'message', at least for me. But I really think it's saved because Edward Arnold's performance and the writing of the speech is so fine, I find myself being carried away by something I'd normally reject.

Speaking of alternate versions... I'd seen two earlier 'cuts' of the film - one on TV that probably predated Criterion's first release of the film, and then that restoration. I can honestly say that this version on DVD is the only version that really "clicks" and moves for me. It's a neat movie and the edition is one of Criterion's nicest.

Napoleon
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#3 Post by Napoleon » Tue Jan 18, 2005 8:18 am

Re-circulating forgotten films is what I love criterion for.

The odd thing about Devil and Daniel Webster is why it got lost in the shuffle in the first place. I guess that this is the sort of film that if released today (and flopped at the BO) would find its audience on rental.

The beginning and ending scenes with Mr Scratch are the best example of transplanting folklore/fairytale imagery onto the screen that I've ever seen.

The film (and package) as a whole is several notches of quality above what I expected.

*NB. The right-wing politics of the film would be annoying, but they are nicely balanced by Jabez joining up with the commies at the end.

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Gregory
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#4 Post by Gregory » Tue Jan 18, 2005 3:09 pm

The film's politics are not right-wing. Its message is a populist one, critiquing the greed and commercialism of a certain type of commercialism (commonly referred to, perhaps misleadingly, as capitalism) which has subsequently taken hold in a sweeping way around the world. Contrasted with this devil's deal, the film presents an alternative of healthy, fair commerce and prosperity mixed with values of cooperation and community. In this way, The Devil and Daniel Webster has much in common with It's a Womderful Life (with its contrast between Bedford Falls and Pottersville, and the potluck of friendship, prosperity and mutual assistance at the end). In The Devil and Daniel Webster, these values are represented by the grange (a grange is sort of a farmers' co-op that allows them to pool their resources and protect each other from financial ruin).
The film's patriotism is not of a reactionary, jingoistic type. Rather it shows that embracing the spirit of cooperation and goodwill as opposed to greed and competitiveness will inspire humble pride in ourselves make the United States a better, stronger country.
An outstanding DVD of an outstanding film, and one I can't wait to watch again.

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Andre Jurieu
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#5 Post by Andre Jurieu » Tue Jan 18, 2005 5:23 pm

... and I say keep analyzing it, because if we don't we're no better than any zombie multi-plex audience. Not 'nuff said. Go Pats!

BWilson
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#6 Post by BWilson » Tue Jan 18, 2005 7:23 pm

Good post Gregory. Calling the film's politics right wing is one of the weirdest assessments I've ever heard about the film. Farmer Stone learns the error of his ugly consumerism and indifference to his neighbors and decides to join the collective farming movement (fuckin' commie).

Daniel Webster represents a form of populism infused with a healthy dose of provincial state pride mostly as a gag (particularly in the included short story where much to-do is made about how Daniel Webster will do just about anything for a "New Hampshire Man" but not for any of those Massachusetts or Connecticut losers).

It's all great stuff. I love the film. Like Capra's classics, the film's politics can be ignored when they get too wishy-washy or ridiculously naive, and just about anyone can just have fun watching it.
Last edited by BWilson on Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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#7 Post by cdnchris » Tue Jan 18, 2005 8:25 pm

The movie is fun and is great, and I know the film is far from right-wing, but when Daniel starts going on at the end I have to admit I felt the movie was turning to cheese for me. Of course I even get annoyed by the "I am Canadian" beer ads up here for their "attempts" at patriotism, so I probably just have a low threshold for that kind of stuff.

As for the comment on not "digging too deep...", man, you don't really have to dig too deep for what the movie is about. It's right friggin' there! It's really not that subtle.

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Miguel
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#8 Post by Miguel » Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:09 am

I finally watched this last night and overall I found it very enjoyable. The movie itself was very well crafted, specially the surreal scenes with the devil were very effective. I loved the part were the devil is playing the fiddle faster and faster and the people start dancing faster and faster around Belle.

The Belle character was very fascinating, although I had some problems placing her. Was she just a female version of the devil out to seduce Jabez? At some point she is referred to as living across the mountains and at the house-warming party all these poor and starved people come to feast at the banquet. Who are these people and what is their relationship to Belle? Did they sell their soul to the devil as well? (Sorry if these questions are answered in the commentary, I still have to check it out.)

I found the patriotism a bit to much at times and because of this had some trouble connecting to Daniel Webster. I understand that his character is completely in accordance with the folkloric nature of the story, but I always have trouble with these morally superior figures. (That's why I particularly enjoyed the bit where it is suggested that Daniel might just be a little bit too susceptible to the pleasures of a nice jug of rum.) It's not really a complaint just a matter of personal preference, something that also bothers me in some Capra movies.

That said, I'm not sure I'll revisit this anytime soon, even though I had a good enough time watching it.

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souvenir
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#9 Post by souvenir » Mon Jan 15, 2007 4:32 pm

Alec Baldwin's long-delayed version will finally be shown - on Starz! and without Baldwin's directorial credit.

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Napier
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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#10 Post by Napier » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:25 pm

For those on the forum who don't already own the great Criterion or MoC releases of this classic, it's airing on TCM tonight at 8:00 PM. Just a heads up.

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Florinaldo
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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#11 Post by Florinaldo » Sun Apr 26, 2009 9:58 am

Does the sequence of Scratch riding his sleigh into hell survive in any way or form?

In his biography of Herrmann, Steven C. Smith offers a tantalizing description of it, that makes one long to see it and listen to Herrmann's cue for it.


ETA: I know it's not on the Criterion DVD which I watched last night. I was just wondering if it is known to exist and has been shown somewhere in any way or form (even only in stills).

And a further question: In the comparison between the two versions, we see that the main differences are the close-ups of Scratch's happily grimacing face, in negative, at each new unhappy event that befalls Jabez.

Do you think it was a good thing to cut them out? Myself, I do find them jarring and a not very subtle effect, and I don't miss them in the version we now have.
Last edited by Florinaldo on Sun Apr 26, 2009 2:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#12 Post by movielocke » Fri Jul 18, 2014 2:59 pm

I'm a little baffled that the commentary asserts that nobody at the time of the film's release could understand the magical realism elements of the story and that was why it failed? Really? I think that same year Here Comes Mr. Jordan met with fine success and no genre skepticism. It also makes no sense given the strong American literary / folklore traditions the story comes out of, traditions Benet was exploiting, and traditions all those contemporaneous critics would have been well aware of, and as the commentary even acknowledges, there were many American films of this sort of magical realism fables. It just doesn't seem right or plausible that they were confused by these genre elements because the film was too bold or new or radical in having the devil on screen.

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andyli
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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#13 Post by andyli » Wed May 18, 2022 1:45 am

4K restoration by UCLA Film & Television Archive premiere this Friday at Billy Wilder Theater. No plans for physical disc release yet, apparently.

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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#14 Post by FrauBlucher » Mon Oct 03, 2022 5:38 pm

This is currently on TCM. I'm watching it on their HD channel. Not sure if this the 4k restoration. It looks very good. Detail is strong. Still some issues though with damage. Inherent in the source I'd imagine


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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#16 Post by FrauBlucher » Sat Jun 17, 2023 6:21 pm

Chris just posted a review of the DVD. I hope this fortuitously foreshadows a bluray release of the new restoration for October.

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Finch
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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#17 Post by Finch » Sat Jun 17, 2023 6:39 pm

The clips from your December 2022 link do look lovely. I still have the MoC DVD from the Nick Wrigley era. Hopefully both CC and MoC will upgrade and at least one of them will have a Blu-Ray with a good encode which neither company is excelling at (Eureka's recent Hongkong discs haven't been encoded all that well). Given that every September title except La Bamba got a UHD, I wonder if The Devil and Daniel Webster might even get a 2160p upgrade.

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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#18 Post by cdnchris » Sun Jun 18, 2023 11:53 am

FrauBlucher wrote:
Sat Jun 17, 2023 6:21 pm
Chris just posted a review of the DVD. I hope this fortuitously foreshadows a bluray release of the new restoration for October.
If it does, it will be a coincidence as I just randomly selected a DVD (along with Flesh for Frankenstein and the I am Curious set) to cover. :) Since there was a new restoration I almost feel like this title has to be given for a Blu-ray upgrade at some point soon, though.
Finch wrote:
Sat Jun 17, 2023 6:39 pm
I wonder if The Devil and Daniel Webster might even get a 2160p upgrade.
It would be an incredible shame if it ultimately didn't. Revisiting the DVD I was impressed with how well the shadows turned out, at least to the degree the format can do (blacks eat up detail but the grayscale is still solid most of the time). A 4K would look stunning.

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FrauBlucher
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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#19 Post by FrauBlucher » Sun Jun 18, 2023 6:05 pm

Finch wrote:
Sat Jun 17, 2023 6:39 pm
Given that every September title except La Bamba got a UHD, I wonder if The Devil and Daniel Webster might even get a 2160p upgrade.
I've become more surprised when Criterion doesn't do UHD releases. So, I would think this has a good chance

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yoloswegmaster
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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#20 Post by yoloswegmaster » Fri Dec 15, 2023 10:26 am

Page has been updated with new stills and a trailer, so we can expect an upgrade to be announced later today.

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FrauBlucher
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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#21 Post by FrauBlucher » Fri Dec 15, 2023 10:32 am

That’s friggin awesome!

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domino harvey
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Re: 214 The Devil and Daniel Webster

#22 Post by domino harvey » Fri Dec 15, 2023 11:01 am

Finally, Bressonaire has been “guessing” this one forever

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domino harvey
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Re: 214 All That Money Can Buy (AKA The Devil and Daniel Webster)

#23 Post by domino harvey » Fri Dec 15, 2023 1:25 pm

Announced for March, and with a title change

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ryannichols7
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Re: 214 All That Money Can Buy (AKA The Devil and Daniel Webster)

#24 Post by ryannichols7 » Fri Dec 15, 2023 1:27 pm

very clunky title change, but nonetheless....a long overdue upgrade, and I'm glad we're still getting occasional DVD->BD bumps here and there

Bruce Eder being in the extras makes me wish he got commissioned for new tracks

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swo17
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Re: 214 All That Money Can Buy (AKA The Devil and Daniel Webster)

#25 Post by swo17 » Fri Dec 15, 2023 1:36 pm

The title change is dumb--it only initially went under that title to avoid confusion with the same year's The Devil and Miss Jones

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