My Review of The Devil and Daniel Webster

I recently watched The Devil and Daniel Webster after having it recommended to me by Diggs. I'm not sure why I hadn't seen it before. This was a really excellent movie! It feels like it should be a classic, but it appears to be one of those under-appreciated movies. The Devil and Daniel Webster came to theaters in 1941. It was made by people who would have just survived The Great Depression, and it shows. It shows in the script, it shows in the poverty of the farmers, and it shows in the attitude towards the loan sharks and rich businessmen that take advantage of those with less. There is an evil in this movie which is shown through the "oppressor" or rich jerk. Oddly, the devil and his demon friend are some of the more likable characters! It is said during the commentary on the DVD that one of the reasons audiences didn't connect to the movie at first was the idea of evil characters being likable or seductive. I don't understand what's not to connect to. If the devil isn't likable, if he doesn't manipulate you into making a deal, who'd sign their name on that wicked line?

I'll give you a brief background on the characters. Jabez Stone lives with his new wife and religious, no-nonsense mother in a simple farm shack in New Hampshire. (There is a lot of New Hampshire pride in this story.) The Stones have a few animals and not a lot of money. What they do have is a lot of love for one another and their lack of money doesn't seem to matter all that much. They just need to scrape enough together to pay a loan shark so they can stay on their land. The Stones decide to sell some things to get the money but problem after problem occurs. Their pig is injured, and then their seeds all fall in the muck. Jabez becomes so angry that he announces that he'd make a deal with the devil to improve his situation.

Then on cue, he appears - Walter Huston as the devil, out of a bright, hazy light in the barn. He's amazing in his role. He's a folksy, funny old huckster with some of the best lines. As I said before, you'll actually like the guy! If you're wondering if Walter Huston is any relation to Angelica Huston, yes - he's her grandfather.

The devil introduces himself as Mr. Scratch and hands Jabez his card. Jabez doesn't take it and the card lights into flame and disappears. You will see some pretty impressive special effects for 1941 in this movie. Heck, they're impressive now. In a way, I prefer them to some of the modern, overblown, computerized special effects seen today. Mr. Scratch does a little convincing and it doesn't take much to get Jabez to sign his contract. Mr. Scratch's attitude is pretty much "Soul, Shmoul. You don't need one of those!" After he gets the signature he wants, Mr. Scratch (in another piece of movie magic) writes Jabez's name and the date seven years from then into a tree. Smoke flies from the tree as the devil writes his evil date into it. Jabez has a bit of a wake up call at this point, as he sees that he only has seven years until he has to pay off his bargain.

Jabez and his newfound wealth

During this time we also meet Daniel Webster, a local politician and lawyer who would like to become president. Daniel Webster was an actual man, but it sounds like he was embellished a bit in fiction. In reality he didn't come through for the common people, but he's a very cool character in this movie. The movie version of Daniel Webster would have my vote! He is clearly the smartest one in the story. He's cool, calm headed, able to give a convincing argument or the perfect speech. He cares about the people, he respects those from other political parties for standing up for different views, he loves America and will stand up for his friends. Mr. Scratch would like to have a part in writing Daniel Webster's speeches, but Daniel pretty much tells him to buzz off. At one point he says to Mr. Scratch "I'd rather see you on the side of the opposition." and Mr. Scratch replies quietly "Oh, I'll be there too..."

Daniel Webster writes a speech while being pestered by the devil.

The next seven years go well for Jabez in some ways. He becomes extremely wealthy. He is able to pay off the loan shark and then some! By the way, the actor who played Miser Stevens, the loan shark is one of the best actors in this. I loved watching his smarmy, twitchy, jerky performance. It was so mean and creepy that it was funny. After Miser Stevens is paid off, he notices that Jabez has given him the exact gold coins he already has plenty of. These are unusual coins, and we realize the loan shark is also in league with the devil.

The creepy Miser Stevens

So Jabez becomes wealthy. He also loses his character as he mistreats his fellow farmers. When the other farmers have a bad growing season, they are forced to take unfair loans from Jabez. He's worse than the loan shark, because he pretends to be their friend and gives them an even worse deal. Then Mr. Scratch creates a massive hail storm, ruining the other farmers' fields. Jabez's wife Mary cries for the other men and their misfortune. Jabez just laughs in their faces and brags about his own "good luck". The other farmers have to suck up their dignity and work for Jabez in hopes of staying afloat.

It's around this time that Jabez and Mary have a son. It looks like Jabez might turn around his evil ways for a brief moment. The devil sees this and decides to up the ante by inviting one of his
"friends" to be a maid for the family. His friend is a female demon named Belle Z. (As in Beelzebub). Belle is played by Simone Simon, who is pretty darn sassy in her role. She was probably walking the line of getting censored for sexiness for a 1941 movie.

Belle and Jabez start their flirty ways

Anyone can guess what happens next. Jabez and Belle have an affair and don't even try to hide it. He and his mistress move into a giant mansion up on a hill, while his wife Mary and his mother live in the old shack below. Jabez and Belle dress in fancy clothes and shove their wealth and relationship in everyone's faces. Jabez is mean to his wife, he's mean to his mother, and he raises his son to be the brat of the century.

Jabez and Mary's son is named Daniel in tribute to Daniel Webster. Mary admires Daniel Webster and asks him to be her son's godfather. You get the feeling that she's known the politician for some time. Mary ends up reaching out to Daniel Webster in an act of desperation. She tells him how her husband has changed and he tells her he will help. As it happens, Jabez has invited Daniel to his house for a party, but I think it was mostly just to make himself look important. Daniel Webster visits Jabez in his grand (almost tacky) mansion and sets him straight. Jabez yells at both Daniel Webster and his wife and continues to make a fool of himself. At that point, Daniel, Mary, and Mary and Jabez's son decide to leave.

Poor Mary, who is completely innocent through this entire movie.

Jabez angrily sits down and of course Belle is there to comfort him. She's just been dancing what could be called a "dance of death" with Miser Stevens, the loan shark. It would seem Miser Stevens' seven years were up. Then the devil appears with a moth that has a tiny little voice that sounds like it belongs to Miser Stevens. Jabez now sees what happens to your soul if you sign it away to the devil. He freaks out and runs to Daniel Webster and Mary. He apologizes and Daniel agrees to help him out. Daniel will act as Jabez's attorney against the devil in a desperate fight for Jabez's soul.

Thus begins a classic scene that was even parodied on The Simpsons! At the end of "The Devil and Homer Simpson" there is a scene with "The Jury of the Damned". There are some pretty funny parts in that clip.

Back to the movie... The devil calls his jury, full of ne'er-do-wells, like Benedict Arnold and a whole pack of pirates. The judge presiding will be Judge Hawthorne of The Salem Witch Trials infamy! The judge doesn't allow much out of Daniel Webster, but in the end Daniel gives an awesome speech. It amounts to this - You were all once Americans, like Jabez. Your freedom was taken from you by the great oppressor - the devil. No one deserves to be oppressed like that. Give this fellow American another chance. It's a really stirring speech, filled with history. Here it is:

Spoiler Alert.... Even these wicked men are impressed by Daniel's speech. Mr. Scratch makes a confused expression that is hilarious. Jabez has his life back. His tacky mansion on the hill burns to the ground. We end with Daniel Webster sitting down with Jabez and his family for dinner, along with all the other farmers. Jabez's mom comes out with a peach pie made especially for Daniel Webster. Ah, but when she lifts the pie lid, it's gone! It appears the devil has been at work again.

The Devil and Daniel Webster is the best movie I've seen in a while! See if you can find it. I had some luck finding it at a local library. It will make you think, it will make you mad, and it will make you laugh. I just know you'll appreciate the Hitchcockian style shadows and excellent music too!

Speaking of the music, I'll end with one of the songs from the movie. This song, "Sleigh Ride" is what got the initial conversation going about The Devil and Daniel Webster. Never mind the sweet Christmas images in this video. The song is actually kind of frenetic and unnerving!

Who is this irresistible creature who has an insatiable love for the dead?

Do you recognize the title of this blog entry? It's the intro to the song Living Dead Girl, which is one of the few zombie things I really like. At least I think the song is about a zombie. This is a good song to listen to while applying Halloween makeup or just driving your car. One word of caution is that listening to music like this can affect how you drive. At least it makes me drive a little faster. Also, other drivers probably think I'm weird as they look over and see me mouthing with intense emotion:

Who is this irresistible creature who has an insatiable love for the dead? Living Dead Girl!

Ah, Rob Zombie. I haven't watched him in anything for a while. He's actually looking good (by Rob Zombie standards) in this video. I like the whole silent movie theme, complete with actors wearing 1920s makeup. The "Living Dead Girl" in the video appears to be some kind of sideshow zombie attraction. Even though I've listened to this song countless times, this is the first time I've watched the video! I definitely didn't know the lyrics before today. As it turns out, I've been singing my own made up lyrics for the past decade. I'm going to stick with some of my own words, because the actual lyrics are fairly disturbing.

However disturbing the lyrics are, they aren't as nonsensical as they first appear. I was semi-surprised to find that the Living Dead Girl song has it's own Wikipedia page. (I was only semi-surprised, because I found the Wikipedia page for duct tape the other day.) Anyway, if you read over this, you'll learn the meaning behind some of the lyrics: Living Dead Girl Wikipedia Page

B-Movie fans will be interested in some of this trivia!

So, here's my big confession: I'm not all that into modern zombies. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I haven't been interested in any zombie movies since the original Night of the Living Dead. I like the more old school zombies, and by old school, I mean old. If future zombies somehow become attractive and charming (like vampires) I might take more of an interest.

It's not like I'm completely anti-zombie, though. I do like Rob Zombie, the original Night of the Living Dead, and the Haitian Voodoo zombies I wrote about earlier. Oh, and one of my favorite Simpson's Halloween specials has to do with zombies. This picture goes with one of the best parts of that episode. Here, the zombies are figuring out that Homer doesn't have much to offer them in the way of brains...
 

I want to like zombies as much as other people do, or at least understand the obsession. After all, zombies are the most popular monsters of our current time. I'm not sure why exactly, but I have a few theories. Sometimes, I look on the street and see people slowly walking, so into their ipods and cell phones, that they aren't even aware of what is going on around them. They can't be bothered to say Hello, as they blankly stare ahead. So maybe zombies are connected to modern culture. People were buzzing about the apocalypse earlier this year, and 2012 is fast approaching. Maybe this fear helps to feed the interest in apocalyptic zombie movies. There is a constant fear of chemical warfare, and extreme germaphobia now. Maybe this fear is reflected in movie plots where zombies spread their condition like a sickness.

What do you think the popularity of zombies says about our time? 

 

I think every decade has had a popular monster. The Mummy was big during the 1930s, because of Egyptian tomb excavation. The sci-fi movies of the 1950s and 1960s often involved aliens, because of advancements in space travel. There were also giant mutated creatures that were usually caused by nuclear disaster, because of the threat of atomic attacks. I also have a theory about the old time monsters being more physically active, just like people used to be. Just think about the Wolfman. He never stood still!

 
My guess is that the next hot monster is going to be the chupacabra. We just need to figure out what a chupacabra looks like. I've heard of supposed chupacabra discoveries, that only turned out to be dead dogs, random roadkill, and even a dead turtle missing its shell. (really) So, once we can all agree on what a chupacabra is, I'm sure it will be the next big thing!

You might wonder why I'm even thinking about zombies, since I'm not a die-hard zombie fan. Well, today is a special day in blog land. Today is the day of the blogger zombie walk, which was thought up by Autumn Forest. It's always interesting to see the different directions people take when talking about the same topic. Many people are participating in the zombie walk. Below is the long list of other participants. You can click through these blogs and read some zombie goodness from people who are probably more into zombies than I am. I hear there are going to be a lot of how-to's and giveaways, so take a look!

Autumn Forest Above the Norm: Bizarre Arizona Zombies Everywhere Holly's Horrorland Little Gothic Horrors Anything Horror Katy Bennett Horror Writer and Poet Bubba's Place Horror Smorgasbord Gnostalgia Monkey Man Words and Music Red Shoes Chronicles The Wolf's Eyes My Day in a Sentence Pixie's Horror Galore Strange State The Misadventures of HalloweeNut Halloween Blues Kweeny Todd The California Blogging Massacre Horror Shock Lolipop Vanessa Morgan Improbable Frontiers No Really, You Can Eat It Art By Living Dead Girl Nicole Two Gory Chicks A Dust Bunny in the Wind A Ghoul's Best Friend Zombies Are Magic Cherry Neko Saves the World Tall Tales At the Mansion of Madness The Haunted Rose The Rotting Zombie Halloween Overkill Out of the Shadows Creepy Glow Keyhole Gallery Creepy Glowbugg Bifocal Univision Haiku-Koo-Koo Sherry Soule Anchors and Roses Paranormal Researchers Group Whispering Pines History Lovely Miss Megs Sean Thomas Fisher's Blogwash Rise and Fight Stump Town Horror LoliClown's Little Blog of Horror Zombies Can't Love Books and Beyond The Grave Bandits Screaming Goregasms Lazy Daisy Life Icky Monster Pretty in Fiction Ivy's Closet Justine's Halloween Annie Walls Just Johnny