A severely down-on-his-luck New England farmer (Lindy Wade) strikes a deal with "Scratch" (Walter Huston as the devil) to bring himself 8 years of good fortune and finds himself without conscience and ultimately almost without wife as he slides down that proverbial "slippery slope." Luckily he has earlier on earned the good-will of a plutocratic lawyer/politician named Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold) who is willing to argue before the most diabolical American court ever assembled to save Daniel Stone's soul.
Overall it's a mildly pleasing and mildly disturbing film, too worried about its faux-provincialism to truly become interesting or to really present a morally complex story. While Walter Huston is delightful as the manipulative Scratch, with a very physical performance, his work isn't really matched by Arnold and the work from Wade and the actress playing his wife (Anne Shirley) is so poor that it undermines the film. Not only are their performances hollow, without any real emotional urgency or immediacy, but the roles are poorly written so that you doubt any actor could have done much with it. The wife character is looks and talks like she stepped out of a D.W. Griffith movie from 1912 moreso than some rural 19th Century atmosphere. As if to correct or compensate for the weird rigidity of the wife they've given Stone a mother who is so broadly written and performed that she barely seems feminine by any definition. These are some terrible duo, no doubt, and if written in a more sarcastic way I would imagine they would suffice to explain Danny Stone's flight from the paths of the righteous.
Although Simone Simon is creepily beautiful we still cannot understand his total abandonment of his wife and all decent behavior. Apparently it's a heck of a lot of fun to ride in a sleigh with Simone Simon. I don't want to be too hard on the movie -- there's a lot of fun thanks mostly to Simon and Huston. But the movie's moral dichotomy is so rigid, the line between good and evil so definite, that I literally felt it had nothing to do with the real world. And sadly, even with such a rigid separation between bad and good behavior the writers weren't able to give Daniel Webster a final speech that would really absolve Danny Stone of his guilt or that would make us believe he had convinced a jury of traitors that Stone should go free just because they might empathize with his desire for a second chance at life. Simply put, we could understand Stone's desire for a second chance if his original mistakes and evil deeds made any sense in and of themselves.
Wish I could have enjoyed it more -- there are many interesting expressionist scenes and some real intimation of the uncanny. Unfortunately all of this is attached to a story that is self-congratulatory and patriotic in a showy way. A few more real dark edges, with everything not being so clearly explained, would have made for a more powerful film.
Overall it's a mildly pleasing and mildly disturbing film, too worried about its faux-provincialism to truly become interesting or to really present a morally complex story. While Walter Huston is delightful as the manipulative Scratch, with a very physical performance, his work isn't really matched by Arnold and the work from Wade and the actress playing his wife (Anne Shirley) is so poor that it undermines the film. Not only are their performances hollow, without any real emotional urgency or immediacy, but the roles are poorly written so that you doubt any actor could have done much with it. The wife character is looks and talks like she stepped out of a D.W. Griffith movie from 1912 moreso than some rural 19th Century atmosphere. As if to correct or compensate for the weird rigidity of the wife they've given Stone a mother who is so broadly written and performed that she barely seems feminine by any definition. These are some terrible duo, no doubt, and if written in a more sarcastic way I would imagine they would suffice to explain Danny Stone's flight from the paths of the righteous.
Although Simone Simon is creepily beautiful we still cannot understand his total abandonment of his wife and all decent behavior. Apparently it's a heck of a lot of fun to ride in a sleigh with Simone Simon. I don't want to be too hard on the movie -- there's a lot of fun thanks mostly to Simon and Huston. But the movie's moral dichotomy is so rigid, the line between good and evil so definite, that I literally felt it had nothing to do with the real world. And sadly, even with such a rigid separation between bad and good behavior the writers weren't able to give Daniel Webster a final speech that would really absolve Danny Stone of his guilt or that would make us believe he had convinced a jury of traitors that Stone should go free just because they might empathize with his desire for a second chance at life. Simply put, we could understand Stone's desire for a second chance if his original mistakes and evil deeds made any sense in and of themselves.
Wish I could have enjoyed it more -- there are many interesting expressionist scenes and some real intimation of the uncanny. Unfortunately all of this is attached to a story that is self-congratulatory and patriotic in a showy way. A few more real dark edges, with everything not being so clearly explained, would have made for a more powerful film.