Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what I’ve seen over the past week either in film or television. On the film side, if I have written a full length review already, I will post a link to that review. Otherwise, I’ll give a brief snippet of my thoughts on the film with a full review to follow at some point later. For television shows, seasons and what not, I’ll post individual comments here about each of them as I see fit.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

The Devil and Daniel Webster

What if you were offered untold riches and success to sign your soul over to the devil? It’s a premise that’s been played out over the centuries by the religious as a way to show that leading a worthwhile life in poverty is better than leading a wealthy life in service to the devil. William Dieterle’s film, originally titled All That Money Can Buy was eventually re-titled The Devil and Daniel Webster, an adaptation of a story of the same name.

Starring Walter Huston as Mr. Scratch, the devil, a young farmer (James Craig), his wife (Anne Shirley) and his mother (Jane Darwell) live in a small New Hampshire farm in the midst of financial turmoil. They struggle each month to pay the banker who owns the loan on the farm and after a series of miserable accidents, he makes an unwitting bargain with the devil that will make him rich beyond his wildest dreams, a fact that causes his personal life to spiral out of control and eventually leads to a trial between the devil and Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold) for the plight of Jabez Stone’s soul.

Dieterle’s film starts off slowly with a hammy performance by Craig. Darwell’s performance is her archetypal one and Shirley barely registers as little more than a frustrated annoyance. Simone Simon as Jabez’s later paramour is as ludicrous as Craig but only half as outlandish. The real performances for this film come from Arnold who’s a strong orator, but given far too little to do; and Huston who sizzles as the frighteningly friendly and mischievous Satan. Huston makes up for all of the poor casting decisions in the rest of the film with a fiery, engaging performance that set the standard (or at least should have) for how to play the famed conniver.

The film itself takes time to get moving, following a fairly standard style through its first reel, but becoming progressively more aggressive and unusual as the film progresses. It’s a fascinating look at the lengths man will go to in order to find happiness, letting temptation temper his motives and only when loss is imminent realize the tragedy of his actions. It’s a compelling premise that had a great deal of relevance shortly after the end of the Great Depression as it does to today’s big bank, post-Great Recession mindset and highlights the dangers of money lenders, greed and putting one’s faith in those who would abuse it.

Pacific Rim

This is how you do monster movies.

In the not-too-distant future, aliens have used a rift in the Pacific floor to issue forth in droves attacking and destroying much of the Pacific coast. An international weapons program creates a series of massive robotic suits in which two pilots can synchronize their memories and together tackle and destroy the monster threat. As the program crumbles and a protective wall is erected, the necessity of the robot program is in question, but the program’s controllers aren’t ready to give up.

Guillermo del Toro has proven to be one of the most inventive filmmakers working today. Pan’s Labyrinth and his two Hellboy movies showcase a twisted mind with myriad wicked creations swimming around. With Pacific Rim, del Toro has found the kind of outlet he’s always deserved for his particular brand of spectacle. Even in the midst of the carnage on screen, he elicits strong performances from his cast and creates enough droll bits of humor to placate the finicky audiences that pack cineplexes with dreams of destruction but little else.

This might not encourage a trend towards more thoughtful and well-written summer entertainment, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. After all, this isn’t just a movie about robots vs. monsters. It’s a movie about humanity on the brink of extinction, bravery in the face of danger and characters with purpose and dedication, not just reasons to collect a paycheck.