American Madness

Director Capra and writer Riskin's first socially conscious collaboration, the cornerstone of great films to come.

To start off Frank Capra is my favorite director because his best films are stories of regular people who have faith in the inherent goodness of the average person.

When I watched American MADNESS, I was surprised to see this 1932 movie is not as dated as you would expect. It moves quickly, has modern characters and dialogue and the drama is balanced with some comedy. The opening scene introduces one of those wonderful telephone operators with a voice that is instantly recognizable and funny at the same time.

American Madness' timely story is about bank president Thomas Dickson played by Walter Huston who has a lending policy that shows great faith in ordinary people but irritates his board of directors, as does his claim that an increased money supply will help end the Great Depression.

Walter Huston's character obviously embodies the wide-eyed hope found in such Capra films as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which also explore what it means to be a "little guy" in a world where millionaires and power brokers usually pull the strings. In some respects, American Madness amounts to a rigged argument in favor of Capra's most optimistic views. But along the way it shows his nagging awareness of the American dream's darker, madder side.

The Great Depression started on Oct. 29 of 1929 when the stock market crashed and it spread to almost every country in the world. US unemployment eventually rose to 25%. Bank failures snowballed as desperate bankers called in loans which the borrowers did not have time or money to repay. With future profits looking poor, capital investment and construction slowed or completely ceased. In the face of bad loans and worsening future prospects, the surviving banks became even more conservative in their lending. Banks built up their capital reserves and made fewer loans, which intensified pressures. A vicious cycle developed and the downward spiral accelerated. By 1933 more than 5,000 banks had failed.

American Madness was the first of Frank Capra's "social dramas," anticipating his later work in this sub-genre with Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and Meet John Doe. After WWII his Christmas classic It's A Wonderful Life would reuse two vital scenes first used in this movie. And for fans of the filmmaker's uplifting, socially conscious comedies as It Happened One Night and You Can't Take It With You this film is an early cornerstone of a great career.

But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. The best of stories work because they have elements of truth in them and the basis for this film came from a banker named Giannini who started a small but successful lending institution in San Francisco called the Bank Of Italy that made loans to working class people not based on collateral, but based on the character of the borrower. Harry Cohen, the head of Columbia Studios that made tonight's movie was one such borrower who went to Mr. Giannini's bank to start his own business.

This story of banking opened in the dark heart of the Great Depression. It was risk taking too and it was not entirely well-received in cities that had seen bank runs in recent months.

But let's talk about what does work in this movie. First, there is the script that is economical and yet gives every character a full personality. Next the actors play real, flesh and blood people. Capra always brought a natural comfort level to his characters making them people we recognize and want to spend time with. Finally there is the crew behind the camera who must have enjoyed their jobs and believed in this director's vision.

There are two parallel stories, Dickson's battle with his board of directors and the personal lives of the bank's employees that lead to events that cripple the bank.

The cinematographer was Capra's favorite, Joseph Walker. Walker and Capra made 22 films together. And I've always appreciated Walker's camera work because it is so smooth, his shots seem to dove-tail together. I hate it when a cameraman tries to bring attention to what he's doing -- jarring you out of the story. Walker sometimes used 2-8 cameras to shoot a scene as it happened to later cut it together so you wouldn't notice the cuts, just smooth transitions.

Let's talk about the life lessons we can take away from these quaint old movies. Not only do we learn a few good moral lessons but I can't think of a better example of the dangers of gossip. The power and poison of gossip can quickly escalate to become a sinkhole of quicksand that swallows even the exaggerators!

Screenwriter Robert Riskin and Capra liked each other's work, and, as a result, Riskin contributed the wisecracking dialogue for Capra's Platinum Blonde. After American Madness future Riskin/Capra collaborations included Lady for a Day (later remade as Pocketful Of Miracles), It Happened One Night (first film to win all five major Oscars), Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (Oscar for Best Director), Lost Horizon and You Can't Take It With You (which won Oscars for Best Picture & Director). Free of their Columbia contracts in 1941, Riskin and Capra formed their own production company to put together Meet John Doe. In later years, Capra would sometimes comment that he'd often have to tone down Riskin's cynicism; Riskin bristled at Capra's tendency to appear to take all the credit.

One last thing in closing, I forgot to mention to you what happened to the Bank Of Italy, they changed their name to Bank Of America and are now one of the largest banks in the world. Well when I learned that, you could have knocked me over with a pin!

I like the early Frank Capra films like this one and It Happened One Night better than his later films like Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and Meet John Doe. This movie stars Walter Huston as a bank president who's partners don't like the way he runs the bank and want him to resign. They can't make him and there's really nothing they can do. When an employee gets in debt to some gangsters for $50,000 dollars and he doesn't have the money, the gangsters tell him what to do so they can sneak in that night and rob the bank. During the robbery, a security guard is killed and word gets around town that the bank is broke. A mob of people show up and want to take their money out. They run out of money pretty quick and they have a hard time finding some more. Pat O'Brien also stars as Huston's friend and an employee who's in charge of the money. There's even more plot that deals with Huston's wife and the employee who was in debt with the gangsters.

...from Columbia Pictures and director Frank Capra. Walter Huston stars as Thomas Dickson, a hard-charging bank president who runs his business with an eye towards growth and the future, much to the annoyance of his more conservative board members. His workload forces him to neglect his wife Phyllis (Kay Johnson), who looks for comfort in the arms of sketchy bank employee Cyril (Gavin Gordon). Meanwhile, another employee, Matt (Pat O'Brien) is romancing a secretary, Helen (Constance Cummings). When a terrible crime is committed, it causes a run on the bank, and everyone may lose everything.

For some reason I was expecting a look at backroom banking machinations that lead to the financial collapse of the Great Depression, but instead this is largely a soap-opera level melodrama about infidelity, gambling debts, and mob mentality. Huston is in full alpha-male motor-mouth mode, threatening to steamroll over anyone sharing a scene. Kay Johnson seems to have trouble with inattentive husbands given her other roles in the precode era. Gavin Gordon looks odd with his overly-manicured, pencil-thin eyebrows. This isn't bad, it's just fluff.

Fast-moving story about how a banker (Walter Huston) with down-to-earth values weathers a financial storm. Plusses: Huston's consummate performance. The bank itself: grand and gleaming in the style of a great palace. The care with which the cumbersome, downright ritualistic opening and closing of bank's massive vault is photographed. A nicely written part for Kay Johnson as Huston's neglected but gallant wife. A more or less constant parade of bit players that at one point ricochet across the screen, in a sequence illustrating how a rumor can start a firestorm of exaggeration - hence the title, "AMERICAN MADNESS." Robert Riskin's realistic, casual-sounding dialogue presented in overlapping fashion - an early Capra trademark. Exciting mob scenes as the depositors rush into the bank in panic. Cinematography from many different angles and plenty of tracking shots through busy frames. Supporting player Gavin Gordon's curiously plucked eyebrows. A minus: The resolution of the plot's financial crisis is too sudden and arbitrary, but the way the personal relationships work out is clever and believable. The positives, however, far, far outweigh the negatives and again it must be said that this is an outstanding Huston performance which shows his great range; for him alone the movie is well worth seeing.

Frank Capra was just starting with his theme of the little guy trumps power, and corruption. It was the first collaboration with Mr. Capra, and his favorite screenwriter, Robert Riskin. This is a seamless screenplay to be sure. great attention is paid to detail... with only one blunder with John Huston's wife showing up with different dress only moments after she appears in different dress. Which brings up a point with the previous commenter... Constance Cummings was NOT John Huston's wife in this movie. Ms. Cummings was Helen.

Helen was Mr. Huston's secretary, and fiancée of Pat O'Brien's character Kay Johnson played the wife, and, VERY well. Ms. Johnson only made 24 movies before she quit in 1944.