Alec Baldwin seems to be one of those guys who might find himself neck-deep in drama, yet any stigma seems to slide right off him. Then again, considering the lives of those on the front page of gossip media, he'd have to put in some extra effort to have a fighting chance. One thing that never seemed to have such a chance was his directorial debut. In the works for five years, The Devil and Daniel Webster was thought to be lost amongst the shelves of forgotten movies...until now.

The movie, which is now called Shortcut to Happiness, is based on the 1941 film and previous short story about a farmer who makes a deal with the devil for a little prosperity. When the devil comes a'knocking, Daniel Webster comes to save him with great, patriotic lines such as: "Mr. Stone is an American citizen, and no American citizen may be forced into the service of a foreign prince." In this updated version, Baldwin is a writer who makes the devilish deal, Anthony Hopkins is Daniel Webster, who is the head of the publishing house and wait for it... Jennifer Love Hewitt plays the dealing devil.

With its new title, and Baldwin being wiped from the title of director, the film is getting slipped into cable television's Starz on Demand. Why so many years later? According to Baldwin years ago, the film was in the possession of the feds because the financial backers were being investigated for bank fraud. At some point, Bob Yari, the movie's producer, straightened things out. Should he have bothered?