3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine, little-known Capra drama, December 21, 2002
Frank Capra's fast-paced Depression-era drama stars Walter Huston as a bank manager facing a financial panic that leads to a run on his bank. It's easy to peg this early talkie as a dry run for "It's A Wonderful Life," but it also stands on its own as a fine film, shot with a nice noir-ish feel. The desperation and panic of the time is painfully palpable throughout this film, and the indiscriminate hysteria of the opening sequences ratchets up into individualized, personal agony as Huston steels himself to lose all that he's ever worked for. Tense and anxiety-provoking; worth checking out!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Early Drama By Capra - Still Capra - Also Available In The "Premiere Frank Capra Collection", December 28, 2008
This review refers to "American Madness"
Something a little different from Capra, in the form of a drama. The time is the Great Depression era, one bank President(Walter Huston) will not give in to the demands of the Board of Directors to merge for the good of the bank. Huston plays a bank president with a heart(yes they used to have some of these around). He believes in people. If they are honest, hard workers, he can't say no to granting them a loan. He has faith. He has run the bank for 25 years, always steering it in the right direction.
But times are different now. Money is tight. People are out of work. Huston won't budge and the board looks for reason to oust him. Things start snow-balling out of control for the bank. There's a robbery, probably an inside job and the rumors abound that the bank is going down.
Customer's are panicking and there's a run on the bank.
Huston's character, a sort of happy-go-lucky bank president, never gives up. The money is about to run out and in a very Capraesque turn of events, things will greatly improve. The people Huston has been so good to, will now be there to help him.
Other sub-stories add to the plot to create a total snowball effect of what can go wrong will - Huston believes his loving wife is having an affair, there's an office romance and some very tough thugs to deal with -and our guy in on the verge of losing everything.
Capra's style is evident in this early film(1932). A style that lifts our spirits even when the going gets tough. And as always you'll find marvelous acting,filming and dialogue and you can't help but get involved with the characters and the tense storyline.
Highly recommended for Capra and Huston fans, you can also find the Region 1 edition(and a very nice quality transfer with commentary,and subtitles) in "The Priemere Frank Capra" collection. The collection also includes "It Happened One Night","Mr Deeds Goes To Town","You Can't Take It With You","Mr. Smith Goes To Washington", and a Documentary - "Frank Capra's American Dream"
Happy New Year To All and enjoy the film.....Laurie
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Run on the Bank!, December 18, 2006
American Madness is a film about the insanity of a crowd and the way a rumor can turn into a major problem. For fans of It's a Wonderful Life, this film is the problems of the Savings and Loan under a microscope. A bank is thriving during the Great Depression and is still able to lend large sums of money in hopes of pushing the economy back up to it's height. This is all thanks to the man who runs the bank (Walter Huston), fighting against his superiors the whole way. However, one of the workers (Gavin Gordon) gets into trouble with a group of gangsters, and out of fear, he aids them in robbing the bank. Now the bank has two major problems. There is a run on the bank as soon as the public finds out (and believes millions of dollars were stolen). Also, there is a murder/theft investigation among the employees for the money stolen and the guard who was killed.
This film takes a bit of time to get going since it is important that we gain some sort of fondness for all of the characters but also to understand the situation of the bank and the reasons why it is so important that it stay open. As always in Frank Capra's typical films, there is a great deal of comradory and the idea that good can triumph over adversity. It doesn't matter how many times you've seen his films or heard that theory, you can't help but get caught up in it when it's happening on the screen. This, like most of Capra's other films, is a true classic.
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