All That Money Can Buy. 1941. USA. Directed by William Dieterle. Screenplay by Stephen Vincent Benet, Dan Totheroh. With Edward Arnold, Walter Huston, Jane Darwell, Simone Simon, Gene Lockhart, John Qualen. Digital restoration by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation in collaboration with Janus Films, The Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress, with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation; courtesy of Janus Films. New York premiere. 107 min.
As a young actor in Germany, Wilhelm (later William) Dieterle appeared in F. W. Murnau’s magnificent Faust of 1926; 15 years later, he returned to Goethe’s tragedy by way of its adaptation into an American folk tale, through Stephen Vincent Benet’s story “The Devil and Daniel Webster.” Faust is now a hearty New England farmer and the Devil is Mr. Scratch (a memorable Walter Huston) tempting our everyman with what sounds a lot like the fascism so much afoot in the world of 1941. It’s up to the great American orator Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold) to talk his way out of the Devil’s bargain. Despite the political cast of the material, Dieterle remains loyal to Murnau’s sumptuous visual style, evoking a soundstage arcadia with the invaluable assistance of cinematographer Joseph H. August. Produced independently, Dieterle’s film was recut and retitled The Devil and Daniel Webster for a series of reissues and has now been returned to its original release form by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and The Film Foundation.