The Devil and Daniel Webster (film) - Plot

Plot

In 1840 New Hampshire, poor, downtrodden farmer Jabez Stone (James Craig) sells his soul to "Mr. Scratch" (Walter Huston) in return for seven years of luck and prosperity. He begins to change. When only his crops are spared from a hailstorm, he ensnares his desperate neighbors with onerous financial contracts and alienates his loving wife Mary (Anne Shirley) and his mother (Jane Darwell). The beautiful Belle (Simone Simon) is sent by Mr. Scratch to replace a household servant. She soon entrances Jabez. Jabez's young son Daniel falls under her influence as well, turning into a spoiled, disobedient boy.

With his time almost up, Stone begs famed orator and fellow New Hampshirite Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold) to find some way out of his bargain with the Devil. Webster agrees to take his case. Mr. Scratch offers an extension in exchange for Jabez's son, but Jabez turns him down. He then begs Webster to leave before it is too late, but Webster refuses to go, boasting that he has never left a jug or a case half finished.

When Mr. Scratch shows up to claim his due, Webster has to risk his own soul before his fiendish opponent will agree to a trial by jury. Mr. Scratch chooses the jury members from among the most notoriously evil men of American history, with John Hathorne (one of the magistrates of the Salem witch trials) as the judge. When Webster protests, Mr. Scratch points out that they were "Americans all."

With his own soul at risk, Daniel Webster proceeds to defend Jabez Stone who is accused of breaching contract. He begins by stating that he envies the jury because as Americans they were present at the birth of a nation, part of a heritage they were born to share. Unfortunately, they were fooled like Jabez Stone, trapped in their desire to rebel against their fate, but what would they give to be given another chance?

Webster explains that it is the eternal right of everyone, including the jury, to raise their fists against their fates, but when that happens, one finds oneself at a crossroads. They took the wrong turn just as Stone did, but he found out in time, and this night he is there to save his soul. Daniel asks the jury to give Stone another chance to walk upon the earth, for what would they give to see those things they remember? They were all men once, breathing clean American air, which was free and blew across the earth they loved.

Daniel starts to orate on all of simple and good things – "the freshness of a fine morning ... the taste of food when you're hungry ... the new day that's every day when you're a child" – and how without the soul, those things are sickened. He reminds the jury that Mr. Scratch said your soul meant nothing, they believed him, and they lost their freedom.

Now Webster orates on freedom as not just a big word: "It is the morning, the bread, and the risen sun," it was the reason for making the voyage to come to America. Mistakes were made, but out of things wrong and right a new thing has come: a free man with a freedom that includes his own soul. Yet how can the jury be on the side of the oppressor, when Stone is a brother, a fellow American?

Webster then implores the jury to let Stone keep his soul, which, after all, doesn't belong to him alone, but to his family and country. "Don't let the country go to the devil," thunders Daniel Webster. "Free Stone."

With his defense, Webster is able to talk the jury into releasing Stone from his deal. Webster then kicks Mr. Scratch out, but the fiend promises that Webster will never fulfill his ambition to become President of the United States.