MVD Entertainment Group Bestows Marquee Collection Status On The DVD And Blu-ray Release Of Shortcut To Happiness On July 16

The Marquee Collection, the home entertainment promotional brand that MVD Entertainment Group has developed, has a new member this week.   

The film is directed by an Oscar nominee (in the Best Supporting Actor category), who also has 11 Golden Globe nominations (with three wins) and 15 Emmy nominations (three wins there as well) … this individual has a total of 141 acting credits (according to the IMDB), 20 producing credits and this one, lonely, directing credit.   This individual is also the star of the film.

This film that MVD is releasing on both DVD and Blu-ray on July 16 as a Marquee Collection entry is making its home entertainment debut and co-stars none other than Jennifer Love Hewitt and Anthony Hopkins.   

Have you guessed the name of the film from these clues?

Back in 2001, Alec Baldwin teamed with writer Peter Dexter (Paris Trout, Michael, Mulholland Falls) to update author Stephen Vincent Benét’s 1936 short story, “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” which was first adapted for the screen in 1941 and released as All That Money Can Buy (at the time to avoid confusion with The Devil and Miss Jones), but within a month of its theatrical debut it was retitled back to The Devil and Daniel Webster (Walter Huston would be nominated Best Actor for his portrayal of Mr. Scratch … aka: The Devil).  

In this updated version, Alec Baldwin stars as Jabez Stone, a struggling writer, who sells his soul to The Devil (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and has second thoughts about his actions and seeks out Daniel Webster (Anthony Hopkins) to get him out of the contract.

The problem with the film, which is titled, Shortcut to Happiness, is not the writing, the directing or the acting — it’s got an A-list cast (with a ton of walk-ons and cameos) — but the film simply ran out of money.   Baldwin lost control, took his name off the film as director (the pseudonym of Harry Kirkpatrick was substituted) and everyone moved on.   

The production company went bankrupt and Shortcut to Happiness sat unfinished for 15 years.  Money was finally raised to complete the post-production and it had a brief run on cable … and now, finally, it can reach a wider audience thanks to MVD Entertainment Group and their Marquee Collection program!   Mark it down, July 16, Shortcut to Happiness on DVD and Blu-ray!!