Film

All That Money Can Buy

Name: All That Money Can Buy
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Released: 1941
Cast: Edward Arnold, Walter Huston, Jane Darwell, Simone Simon, Gene Lockhart

A Depression-era New England farmer sells his soul to the devil for seven years of prosperity, then has to fight for it back in a courtroom staffed by the damned. Walter Huston's grinning, folksy Mr. Scratch is one of cinema's great devils, and the film moves between homespun comedy and genuine dread. Good for anyone who loves American tall tales with teeth.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love folk-tale fables told with a sly, theatrical wink, where a New England parable about greed turns into a lively courtroom argument about the devil and the soul.

Skip it if you need fast pacing or modern realism; the film talks a good deal, leans on stagey performances, and its 1940s studio look may feel creaky to a contemporary viewer.

What it asks of you: It runs about 107 minutes and moves at a deliberate, storybook pace, rewarding patience and an appetite for ornate speeches more than constant plot momentum.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Damn Yankees1958

The same bargain, but as a big brassy musical — a middle-aged baseball fan sells his soul to become a slugger, and the devil's assistant, Lola, gets one of Broadway's best numbers. Pure joyful showmanship.

But If musicals aren't your thing, the singing and dancing will grate against the story's darker bones.

It's a Wonderful Life1946

Same small-town American soul-searching, same mix of homespun warmth and cosmic stakes, just with an angel instead of a devil. Capra's film asks what a life is worth in dollars and finds a better answer.

But It's been Christmas-ified into wallpaper; some viewers can't see past the familiarity to the film underneath.

The Witches of Eastwick1987

Jack Nicholson turns up in a small town promising to make wishes come true, charming three women half to death, and the devil has never had more fun playing the room.

But The tone swings wildly from seduction to slapstick to horror, and not every viewer will forgive the whiplash.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from All That Money Can Buy

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Faust1926

It's the wellspring: the same bargain-with-the-devil myth that Benét adapted for America, told fifteen years earlier in the visual language that invented cinematic Satan.

Murnau's silent masterpiece gave cinema its first great devil, Emil Jannings' Mephisto, in images so painterly they still look like nothing else — a plague descending over a town like ink poured from the sky.

But Silent, German, and nearly a century old — it demands patience the sound era trained out of most viewers.

The Devil's Advocate1997

A hotshot lawyer discovers his new boss is Satan himself, and Al Pacino chews every inch of scenery available. It's the courtroom-against-the-devil idea dragged into slick '90s excess.

But Subtlety is not on the menu — this is a film that shouts where Daniel Webster would murmur.

Angel Heart1987

A private detective's missing-persons case curdles into something far darker, with Robert De Niro's soft-spoken client turning out to be exactly who you suspect. Same devil, dressed in film noir.

But It's genuinely unsettling and sexually explicit in a way that has aged into real controversy — not a cosy watch.

Needful Things1993

A new shopkeeper arrives in a Stephen King small town selling people exactly what they want, at a price nobody reads the fine print on. Same folk-horror engine, cranked up to gleeful nastiness.

But It's pulpier and bloodier than Benét's fable, with none of the courtroom grace notes.

Bedazzled1967

Peter Cook's devil is petty, vain and hilarious, granting a lovesick short-order cook seven wishes that each go wrong in a different way. British wit at its most gleefully cynical.

But The humour is very of-its-decade and episodic rather than driven by one sustained story.

Crossroads1986

A blues legend sold his soul at a Mississippi crossroads, or so the story goes, and this film chases that myth with Ralph Macchio and a young Steve Vai's guitar doing the acting.

But It's a slighter, more earnest film than its premise promises, and the '80s dressing shows.

Oh, God! You Devil1984

George Burns plays both God and the Devil, and a struggling musician gets the classic offer: fame for his soul. Gentle, silly, and unexpectedly sweet about what people actually want.

But It's featherweight where the original is haunted — good company, but no substitute for teeth.

There Will Be Blood2007

Same American myth of prosperity bought at the cost of the soul, stripped of the devil's wink and Webster's eloquence — what the bargain looks like when nobody shows up to argue you out of it.

No devil appears, but Daniel Plainview sells his soul to oil and ambition just as surely as Jabez Stone did to Scratch, and Paul Thomas Anderson lets the damnation play out in real time.

But It's a slow, punishing, nearly three-hour descent with none of the folk-tale mercy or humour of the original — pure consequence, no rescue.