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| Images courtesy of MVD Marquee Collection |
Stephen Vincent Benét’s 1936 short story The Devil and
Daniel Webster is one of the most unique slices of American fantasy-horror
fiction with elements of realism integrated into the fabric of the
narrative. The story of a New Hampshire
farmer down on his luck who makes a pact with the devil to sell his soul for
success for a seven-year duration only for a fictionalized version of real-life
19th century American lawyer Daniel Webster to defend the farmer’s
soul in the court of law, The Devil and Daniel Webster was an award
winning literary success with elements of satire, supernatural superstition and
something of a contemporary fable.
While a very stagey story rife with artifice and ample room
for movie magic to dramatize much of the devil’s demonic trickery, only a total
of two film adaptations were officially made: the celebrated phantasmagorical Oscar
winning William Dieterle directed All That Money Can Buy from 1941 and
in 2007 Harry Kirkpatrick’s (actually Alec Baldwin’s pseudonym) stumbling,
disowned and drastically re-edited Shortcut to Happiness released on
blu-ray disc for the first time through MVD’s Marquee Collection line. A star-studded production featuring many name
stars including Dan Aykroyd, Kim Cattrall, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Anthony
Hopkins, the film was Baldwin’s first and last effort in the director’s chair
in a film that completed shooting in 2001 only to languish in post-production
for another two years before finally being picked up with the name The Devil
and Daniel Webster changed to the present title in 2007.
Updating the proceedings to New York involving an author named
Jabez Stone (Alec Baldwin) failing to make ends meet who one night meets a sexy
seductress who turns out to be The Devil (Jennifer Love Hewitt) who offers him
success in exchange for his soul at the end of a seven-year period. Quickly shooting to the top of the nationwide
literary bestsellers despite being a “hack author”, his friendships with fellow
alcoholic author Julius Jensen (Dan Aykroyd) and others start to erode. While co-mingling with hotshot sex-starved
book publisher Constance Hurry (Kim Cattrall), the clock continues to tick as
it dawns on Jabez his newfound fame and fortune isn’t all he had hoped for and
soon meets renowned orator Daniel Webster (Anthony Hopkins) in an effort to
break the deal with the devil.
Loosely based on the original text along with elements of Archibald
Macleish’s Scratch worked into the narrative, adapted by Nancy Cassaro, Pete
Dexter and even Kinsey writer-director Bill Condon, Shortcut to
Happiness on paper gets all the details and elements right. However, given the film encountered so many
financial hurdles on the way to the silver screen including but not limited to
Yari Film Group buying and re-editing the film without Baldwin’s oversight,
there’s a reason his name is not on the credits. Despite these obvious problems, the
production values for this modernized update of The Devil and Daniel Webster
are nevertheless good. With striking
New York cinematography by Polish director of photography Adam Holender (Midnight
Cowboy) and featuring a quirky score co-written by Hellraiser composer
Christopher Young and Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi, the film
looks and sounds lovely, sometimes capturing the interiors of nighttime bars
and book clubs with soft amber lighting.
Performance wise, everyone is generally good in it though
Jennifer Love Hewitt’s devil is more of the Hallmark TV version of the sexy imp
with a missing tail carefully framed on the wall of Daniel Webster’s office
than the polite and cunning Mr. Scratch played so iconically by Oscar winning
actor Walter Huston. Alec Baldwin is
okay in the lead though his take on Jabez Stone is a bit more sympathetic than James
Craig’s romantically torn power mad farmer whose success quickly goes to his
head. Where it was easy for James Craig’s
Jabez Stone to wane on the viewer’s sympathies, Baldwin’s interpretation is
frankly too nice to the guy. Dan
Aykroyd, Kim Cattrall and Amy Poehler turn over decent comic performances in
supporting roles and for what it’s worth Anthony Hopkins is a perfect match for
Edward Arnold. Save for Hewitt’s cutely
naughty demoness, the casting is pitch perfect.
Which is a shame considering the finished product unrolling
for all the production values and talent sunk into it, the end result is kind
of messy. Finished in 2006 and finally
released in 2007 by the Yari Film Group in a cut director Alec Baldwin took his
name off of, the film was both a critical and massive commercial flop. Costing somewhere around $30 million to
produce, the film only took in a measly $686,000 or so and critics took
particular umbrage with Baldwin’s direction of the film. At one point, supposedly even the Feds got
involved when investors were being investigated for cheques bouncing. Feeling a bit like a Lifetime Network-tinged
Hallmark made-for-television movie despite having a large cast and sizable
price tag attached, Shortcut to Happiness feels a bit like a shortcut to
The Devil and Daniel Webster.
Lacking the confident direction, still wowing visual effects
and formidable acting talents of the 1941 film, the film for all of its trials
and tribulations and the assurance of Anthony Hopkins still feels more like a
dress rehearsal than a finished product.
Whereas the William Dieterle film is directed with masterful composition,
camera placement, lighting and editing, Baldwin’s handling of the cinematic
medium is, well, let’s be frank, rudimentary.
Despite the gifted cinematographer, music and production values, Baldwin
doesn’t seem to know a whole lot about how to make $30 million onscreen not
feel like $30,000. The money just isn’t
coming on the screen and not even Hopkins’ earnest effort at doing Daniel
Webster can distract from that. Fans of The
Devil and Daniel Webster or just curios keen on the presently unraveling
personal and professional mess that is Alec Baldwin are inclined to give this a
look but like most of the rest of us did when it came out, we better left it
sitting on the DVD shelves.
--Andrew Kotwicki
