American Madness

‘American Madness’ truly an American film

WEEKENDER VIDEO VIPER for July 17, 2009:
WALTER HUSTON tries to calm the crowd in "American Madness."

It was the Fourth of July.
After a day of picnicking, I was in the mood for something all-American.
Maybe my pristine, Blu-ray version of "Independence Day?" No, too obvious.
Ah, what can be more American than Frank Capra, the holder of the American dream when it comes to films of the 30s and 40s?
“The Premiere Frank Capra Collection” includes “American Madness,” “It Happened One Night,” “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” “You Can't Take It With You,” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
I decided on “American Madness,” the depression-era story of a bank and its good guys and bad guys.
Like other Capra films, I wasn't disappointed. Capra had a talent of telling a story, showing the inherent goodness of people and wrapping it up without getting too schmaltzy in the process.
"American Madness" is the story of an American bank whose manager, played by a young Walter Huston, knows how to lend money to better his community. He can sense who will use the money he lends most effectively.
The crusty board of directors disagrees. It thinks the Huston character is too liberal in his decisions, even though he has never had a bad debt.
Yet the directors want him to merge with the New York Trust and resign.
Huston's character, Thomas Dickson, won't go along and the board doesn't have the votes to force him.
But a bank employee has gambling debts and tampers with an alarm, allowing the mob he owes money to get in and rob the place of $100,000.
Pat O'Brien is Matt Brown, an ex-convict that the Dickson character believes in and makes head teller. When the robbery goes down, a security guard is killed. The Brown character is suspected.
What's worse, rumors quickly spread as the result of the robbery, that the bank is no longer solid. We see as word spreads of the $200,000 robbery, then $500,000, then $1 million and finally several million.
Employers allow their employees off work so they can go to the bank and withdraw their money.
Yes, it is a run, just like what we see more than a decade later in a Capra favorite, “It's A Wonderful Life.”
Capra works his magic, using a dolly shot of a sea of people — make that a sea of hats — as nervous patrons get frustrated and pushy, trying to get their money out.
Dickson works to get more money to the bank, knowing if it runs out of money, the bank is finished. This is 1932, before government insurance.
Something happens to shake Dickson's confidence in mankind, or to be exact, womankind, and he decides to give up and allow the board its sale.
But can it end this way? Not in a Capra film. You will see more similarities to “It's A Wonderful Life.”
From the depths of despair comes a miracle. Hey, this is America.
The entire Capra collection is worth viewing. It is suitable for the entire family and preaches what another director, Spike Lee, emphasized in another film decades later: “Do the Right Thing.”


AMERICAN MADNESS
• Directed by Frank Capra
• Story by Robert Riskin
• Runtime: 75 minutes
• Suitable for entire family
• 4 stars out of 4