The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)

"The Devil and Daniel Webster" is a short story by Stephen Vincent Benét. This Faustian tale was inspired by Washington Irving's short story "The Devil and Tom Walker"

Directed by William Dieterle. With Edward Arnold, Walter Huston, Jane Darwell, Simone Simon. A nineteenth-century New Hampshire farmer who makes a pact with Satan for economic success enlists Daniel Webster to extract him from his contract.

Amazon.com: The Devil and Daniel Webster (Penguin Classics) (9780140437409): Stephen Vincent Benet: Books

Available on DVD from http://www.classicfilmsdirect.com from 25/07/2016 A classic morality tale, William Dieterle's The Devil and Daniel Webster, combines Eu...

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.

Noted for its devilish wit and wicked satire, The Devil and Daniel Webster is a faithful adaptation of Stephen Benet's distinguished short story of a struggling New England farmer who naively sells his soul for money and lives to regret it when he loses everything that ever really mattered to him. When he finally figures out that his greed has guaranteed him a truly horrible fate, he goes to the great lawyer Daniel Webster for assistance. Together they attend a trial held in the farmer's barn where Webster does his best to save his repentant client's soul. The film is also known as All That Money Can Buy and Daniel and the Devil.