This superb fantasy reworks the Faust legend in a 19th-century New England setting.

Based on a prize-winning short story by Stephen Vincent Benet, it stars James Craig as hapless farmer Jabez Stone and Walter Huston (unforgettable) as the Devil - here called Mr Scratch.

The deal is simple: the farmer sells his soul and in return he gets seven years of extraordinary luck.

The rest is pretty predictable but beautifully acted out as the farmer's fortunes - and personality - alter drastically.

Jabez's final piece of good luck, as his seven years run out, is to get the great lawyer Daniel Webster (a superb performance from Edward Arnold) to fight Mr Scratch in court for his soul.

Director William Dieterle does a fine job in telling a picturesque story, Joseph August's camerawork is alive and action-filled and Bernard Herrmann's chilling score won an Oscar.

Although this was not a box office hit (it lost $53,000 on its first release), subsequent showings over the years have turned it into a minor cult movie.