All That Money Can Buy (1941) in Color — Starring Edward Arnold & Walter Huston

All That Money Can Buy (1941) — Buy This Classic in Color

Experience the magnificent Faustian fantasy All That Money Can Buy (1941), also known as The Devil and Daniel Webster, now available as a professionally colorized digital download for only €15.00. Directed by William Dieterle and starring Walter Huston in his legendary Academy Award-nominated performance as the Devil alongside Edward Arnold and James Craig, this extraordinary film tells the story of a desperate New England farmer who sells his soul for seven years of prosperity, only to be defended at the gates of damnation by the greatest orator in American history. Download instantly in DRM-free MP4 format and enjoy this cinematic masterpiece in vivid color.

Plot Summary

Jabez Stone is a decent, hardworking New Hampshire farmer in the 1840s who has suffered every misfortune the land can deliver — failed crops, broken equipment, injured livestock, and mounting debts that threaten to drive his young family from their homestead. Played with everyman vulnerability by James Craig, Jabez reaches his breaking point one bitter evening and makes a declaration that will change his life forever: he would sell his soul to the Devil himself for just two cents’ worth of luck.

The Devil takes him up on it. Mr. Scratch — played by Walter Huston with a performance of such gleeful, seductive, fiddle-playing malevolence that it remains one of cinema’s greatest portrayals of Satan — appears at Jabez’s door with a contract written in the farmer’s own blood. The terms are simple: seven years of unlimited prosperity in exchange for Jabez’s immortal soul. Desperate and enraged by his suffering, Jabez signs.

The transformation is immediate and spectacular. Jabez discovers a cache of Hessian gold buried on his property, and from that moment, everything he touches turns to profit. His crops flourish while his neighbors’ wither. He lends money at crushing interest rates, forecloses on struggling families, and rises from the poorest farmer in Cross Corners to its wealthiest and most powerful citizen. His devoted wife Mary, played by Anne Shirley with quiet heartbreak, watches helplessly as the generous, humble man she married becomes a cold-eyed stranger consumed by greed.

Mr. Scratch accelerates Jabez’s corruption by introducing Belle, a mysterious and alluring woman played by Simone Simon with feline sensuality, who appears from nowhere to become Jabez’s companion and advisor. Belle is not human — she is a supernatural agent of temptation whose beauty and seductive whispers push Jabez further from his wife, his neighbors, and his own soul. The scenes between Jabez and Belle crackle with an otherworldly eroticism that is all the more unsettling for its elegance.

As the seven years draw to a close and the day of reckoning approaches, Jabez desperately seeks legal help to escape his contract. He turns to the one man in America whose eloquence might prevail even against the Prince of Darkness — Daniel Webster, a legendary senator and orator played with commanding authority by Edward Arnold. Webster agrees to take the case, declaring that no American citizen shall lose his freedom while he has a voice to argue.

The climactic trial is one of the most extraordinary sequences in American cinema. Mr. Scratch summons a jury of the damned — twelve of history’s most notorious villains, including Benedict Arnold, Blackbeard the pirate, and Simon Girty — to sit in judgment. In a crumbling barn at midnight, with hellfire flickering through the cracks in the walls, Daniel Webster delivers an impassioned defense of the human soul that moves even the dead to compassion. The sequence combines expressionist visual design, Bernard Herrmann’s thunderous Oscar-winning score, and performances of galvanic intensity into a climax that is simultaneously terrifying, moving, and triumphant.

Cast & Crew

Director: William Dieterle

Stars: Walter Huston, Edward Arnold, James Craig, Jane Darwell, Simone Simon, Gene Lockhart, John Qualen, Anne Shirley

Walter Huston delivers one of the most iconic performances in cinema history as Mr. Scratch, creating a Devil who is charming, funny, terrifying, and ultimately pitiable in his eternal quest for souls. His fiddle-playing entrance and gleefully wicked negotiations with Jabez set a standard for screen villainy that has never been surpassed. Edward Arnold brings thunderous oratorical power to Daniel Webster, while Simone Simon is hauntingly seductive as the supernatural temptress Belle.

Why Buy This Classic in Color?

This professionally colorized restoration reveals the full visual splendor of Joseph August’s Academy Award-winning cinematography in stunning new dimension. The golden autumn fields of New England, the hellish red glow of the midnight trial, the warm candlelit interiors of the Stone farmhouse, and the supernatural shimmer surrounding Belle and Mr. Scratch all achieve breathtaking impact in carefully researched period-accurate color. The film’s expressionist lighting and shadow work, among the most ambitious in 1940s cinema, gains rich atmospheric depth in color. Now also available in colour.

Buy now for €15.00 — instant DRM-free digital download, compatible with all MP4-capable devices.

Historical Significance

Released in 1941, All That Money Can Buy (also distributed as The Devil and Daniel Webster) was based on Stephen Vincent Benét’s beloved 1936 short story and adapted by the author himself. The film received six Academy Award nominations and won for Bernard Herrmann’s magnificent debut score. Walter Huston’s Mr. Scratch is consistently ranked among the greatest screen villains in cinema history. Director William Dieterle’s German Expressionist visual style, combined with the quintessentially American folk tale, created a unique work that stands alone in Hollywood history. Through colorization, this American fantasy masterpiece is preserved for modern audiences who can experience its visual brilliance in vivid new color.

Technical Details

• Format: MP4
• Resolution: HD 720p
• Colorized: Yes, frame-by-frame restoration
• Audio: Original English mono
• Runtime: 107 minutes
• DRM-free: Yes
• Instant download: Yes
• Price: €15.00

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Movie-Specific Questions

Q: Why does this film have two titles?
A: Originally released as The Devil and Daniel Webster, the studio changed the title to All That Money Can Buy to avoid confusion with another “devil” film released that year. Both titles refer to the same film.

Q: What makes Walter Huston’s performance as the Devil so legendary?
A: Huston creates a Mr. Scratch who is simultaneously charming and terrifying — a fiddling, wisecracking tempter whose casual malice and genuine delight in corruption make him one of cinema’s most memorable villains, earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

Q: How does the trial scene compare to other courtroom dramas?
A: The midnight trial before a jury of the damned is unlike any other courtroom scene in cinema — combining supernatural horror, American patriotic oratory, and profound moral philosophy into a sequence of extraordinary power that has been described as one of the greatest in film history.

Digital Download Questions

Q: What format is the download?
A: The film is delivered as a high-quality MP4 file in HD 720p resolution, playable on virtually any modern device.

Q: Is this download DRM-free?
A: Yes, the download is completely DRM-free for your personal, non-commercial use.

Q: How quickly will I receive my download?
A: You will receive a secure download link on the confirmation page immediately after purchase, with a backup link sent to your email.

Related Colorized Classics

• Command Decision (1948)
• The Hucksters (1947)
• Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
• Dear Ruth (1947)
• Mrs. Parkington (1944)