SILVER

ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY, set in rural America in the 1840s, follows a desperate farmer who sells his soul to the satanic Mr. Scratch for seven years of prosperity. The success that the farmer so desired is paired with an unraveling of other elements of his life, so he turns to famed congressman and orator Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold) to argue for the return of his soul. The devil is played with glee by Walter Huston in a memorable performance echoing the fascism that was tempting much of the rest of the world. Fresh from CITIZEN KANE, composer Bernard Herrmann won an Oscar® for this, his second film score. As Herrmann's biographer (and festival guest) Steven C. Smith writes, "perhaps Herrmann's greatest achievement in film was his remarkable use of orchestration to reinforce theme and character psychology." Director William Dieterle had acted in F. W. Murnau's FAUST (1926) and elements of this film echo Murnau's style and Faustian themes of temptation and regret. Although the film was later revised and reissued in an 85-minute version and retitled THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER, this new restoration from UCLA returns the film to its original release edition from original nitrate elements. DIR/PROD William Dieterle; SCR Dan Totheroh, Stephen Vincent Benét, from his short story. U.S., 1941, b&w, 107 min. NOT RATED
35mm 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.

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