It was cooooooooold in the hills last night...I hear we dropped to 2 deg. We sat here listening to the rain, eating bread & butter pudding and watching The Devil and Daniel Webster, a 1941 b&w fillum, dir William Dieterle....
So. Devil & Daniel is basically Faust in New Hampshire, eg the devil (Mr Scratch) rocks up & convinces a farmer, marvellously named Jabez Stone, to sell him his soul in return for 7 years good luck. As the 7 years of soul-less behaviour draw to a close, Jabez panics and turns to local landowner/farmers rights /polly, Daniel Webster to save the day, and his soul.
It's marvellous for: the old fashioned farmerish New Hampshire-ness of it all, and the mixture of light heartedness and surreal scariness. With good vs bad stories it always seems such a bum deal: the good characters get to be pious, long suffering and quote lots of the bible, whilst the baddies get to wear funky clothes and dance. I also marvel at the lost innocence of a time when a man's soul could be saved by the integrity of a local politician....
Hubby was especially excited about this one; we're both old film freaks but he'd been looking for a copy of this for 20 years, he says. Old reviews say its marvellous, was put out by RKO around the same time as Citizen Kane. RKO must have been feeling particularly benevolent towards filmmakers staying true to their artistic visions at this time, because Devil & Daniel is truly a singular film and uses a lot of b&w film techniques that I associate with silent movies, eg lighting, angles, etc. It won an Oscar for its score, and Walter Huston was nominated for his leprechaunesque (new adjective! Stick that in your NAPLAN & smoke it!) Mr Scratch.
'Parently this lost money after RKO releaased it, so they cut about 40 mins from it and its only in the last few years that the full print has been restored and released on dvd. Which is why it disappeared for so long. Watch it if you can find a copy.
I've seen it, wilms! on the telly eons ago - abc, if memory serves. I recall it being a gorjus thing - lovely language, all beautifully accented in what is now referred to as 'trans-atlantic' but was standard for the day. great diction etc.
ReplyDeletespeaking of old flicks, do you know the original 'all quiet on the western front'? one of the most amazing very early flicks you'll ever see, if you haven't. I have it firmly placed at about number 5 on my top 10 :)
ABC have a lot of the good stuff, dont they? Yes, the language is divine (get hold of True Grit!)
ReplyDeletere: All Quiet on the Western Front: Apparently we have a copy of it here. I watched it years ago but afore I had a real appreciation for anything aside from movies with Molly Ringwald in them (hehehe)so I need to watch it again. Hub tells me that his Dad's side of the fsmily were pacifist through WW2 and that his Dad named it as one of the most important influences onhis life. Wow.
Rio Bravo is a classic. So too Cat Balou. Yes, All quiet of the Western Front. Why on earth they took that off the year 12 syllabus I'll never know. A friend put me onto a supposed classic the other night. It's calle 'We're no angels. Anybody seen that one?
ReplyDeleteHavent watched Rio Bravo in years, PDJ. I'm assuming they took AQOTWF off the syllabus coz we're at war and they didnt want any more pacifists ;) Havent seen Cat Balou, but I watched 'We're no Angels' at Christmas this year just gone. Loved the idea of Bogey & Ustinov working together on something so whimsical, loved Adolphe's halo!
ReplyDeletemolly ringworm ... snorffles :D
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