Stephen Vincent Benet's "The Devil and Daniel Webster" won the Saturday Evening Post short story contest a couple of years ago. Now the whimsical story of Faust in New Hampshire has been made into a movie. "All That Money Can Buy" seems well on its way to winning an equally conspicuous niche in moviedom's hall of fame.

Sensitively and carefully produced, "All That Money Can Buy" is at the same time a forceful commentary on the American scene. With a superb cast that steps right out of Benet's story, it is a heart warming tale of very human people,--people you might know yourself. This assumes that you don't know Mr. Scratch, otherwise known as the Devil. But you'll know him and like him after you see Walter Houston's sly, mischievous interpretation of a role that could easily be overdone.

Edward Arnold is hearty and his usual vigorous self as "Black Daniel" Webster, who would rather pitch horse-shoes and sip New Bedford ale than bother with politics. His climactic speech to the jury of despised Americans, far longer than the length of speeches movie audiences are generally supposed to go for, is a beautifully expressive bit of sustained emotion.

If any fault at all is to be found with the picture, it is its continual telegraphing of punches. You're pretty sure of what's going to happen before it ever happens. In most movies, this would prove a fatal error. In "All That Money Can Buy" it's simply a minor flaw in an otherwise irreproachable and praiseworthy film. Hollywood can still make good pictures. And ones like this almost make up for most of the bad ones.