Okay this one is an oddball. What we have here is a sort of morality play mixed into a fantasy. In the first half of the nineteenth century in the southwest corner of New Hampshire there lived a farmer named Jabez Stone. He has a wife and a widowed mother and not much else. Bad luck follows him and prevents him from ever catching up on his debts. One day when disaster strikes, again, he cries out that he’d sell his soul for some good luck. And the Devil (played amusingly by Walter Huston) shows up and talks him into the deal. He provides him with a pot of “Hessian” gold and seven years of guaranteed good luck for the price of his soul.
(Spoiler Alert – Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)
And indeed, Jabez gets all the good luck for which he could ask. When his neighbors’ crops are destroyed by hail, his are spared. He loans money to his neighbors and when they can’t pay him back, he makes them sharecroppers working his fields. He builds a huge mansion on the hill and alienates his wife and mother and all his old friends.
Jabez’s wife Mary is a good friend of the famous American statesman, Daniel Webster (played by Edward Arnold) and she finally calls Webster in when she decides that something terrible has happened to her husband. Jabez has changed from an honest friendly religious man into a greedy, hateful sinner. He’s driven away all of their friends and taken up with a Jezebel named “Belle” whom the Devil has sent to keep Jabez from repenting.
On the seventh anniversary of his contract Old Scratch (as the Devil is called in that neighborhood of New England) comes to claim Jabez Stone’s soul. By this point Jabez realizes the wrong he’s committed and is repentant but he knows his contract is binding. But at this point Daniel Webster confronts the Devil and demands a jury trial. Webster will represent the defense and the Devil gets to pick the judge, and jury. The jury is made up of notorious criminals of the early American era including Gen. Benedict Arnold the infamous traitor of the Revolutionary War. But the Devil stipulates that if Jabez is found guilty Daniel Webster’s soul will also be collected.
Webster uses all his gifts as an orator and appeals to the jury’s remorse for not fulfilling their birthrights as free Americans and lovers of life. He reminds them of the simple joys of living a virtuous life and how each of them regrets the road he has taken.
Finally, the jury asks the Devil to see the contract and when he hands it over Benedict Arnold tears it up and throws it away. The judge and jury disappear into smoke and Daniel Webster gives the Devil the bum’s rush out of Jabez’s barn. The two victors return to the farmhouse in time to enjoy a homecooked breakfast with Jabez’s wife and mother and young son.
His neighbors arrive to alert Jabez to the fact that his mansion on the hill is in flames. He smiles at them and tells them he’s glad and that all their debts to him are cancelled and to prove it he tears up his promissory notes and invites them to breakfast. The movie ends on a comical note with Old Scratch sitting on a country fence, finishing up a pie he stole from Ma Stone and looking into his little book of prospects and then peering out into the audience and smiling and pointing at you!
As I said this is an oddball film. The bulk of the film is a melodrama about a good man going bad through greed and pride. I suppose the supernatural story is meant to be a metaphor for how circumstances can make even good people lose perspective on the what’s really valuable in life and let the pursuit of money destroy the good things they have. I don’t know if I can recommend this movie unless I compare it to something like the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” That movie also shares a supernatural framing of the dangers of losing perspective on what makes life worth living. If you didn’t like that better movie then you probably won’t like this lesser tale. That won’t guarantee you’ll like this one but it gives you an idea of what kind of movie this is.