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American Madness (1932)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Robert Riskin (story)
Release Date:
15 August 1932 (USA)
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Plot:
It's the 1930s, the Depression era, and the Board of Directors of Thomas Dickson's bank want Dickson to merge with New York Trust and resign...
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Humble Beginnings for a Bank
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Cast
(Complete credited cast) | Walter Huston | ... | Dickson |
 | Pat O'Brien | ... | Matt |
| Kay Johnson | ... | Mrs. Dickson |
| Constance Cummings | ... | Helen |
| Gavin Gordon | ... | Cluett |
| Arthur Hoyt | ... | Ives |
| Robert Emmett O'Connor | ... | Inspector (as Robert E. O'Conner) |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
75 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric System)
Certification:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Walter Huston (on loan from MGM) worked 4 weeks and 6 days on this production. Louis B. Mayer exercised a provision in his 1931 contract extending it for his participation in this film.
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Quotes:
[last lines]
Thomas Dickson: Matt! I want you both to take the day off, go downtown, get a license, and get married right away.
[Matt starts to protest]
Thomas Dickson: I don't want to hear any more about it. If you don't get married I'm going to fire the both of you. Helen, while you're downtown, you might stop in and make reservations for the bridal suite on the Berengeria, sailing next week.
Matt Brown: Gee, thanks, Mr. Dickson.
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Thomas Dickson: Matt! I want you both to take the day off, go downtown, get a license, and get married right away.
[Matt starts to protest]
Thomas Dickson: I don't want to hear any more about it. If you don't get married I'm going to fire the both of you. Helen, while you're downtown, you might stop in and make reservations for the bridal suite on the Berengeria, sailing next week.
Matt Brown: Gee, thanks, Mr. Dickson.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Frank Capra's 'It's a Wonderful Life': A Personal Remembrance (1991) (V)
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Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for American Madness (1932)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
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| What's your fav. 1930's Capra? | Alix1929 |
| Constance Cummings | lmakov |
| young sterling holloway | ksf-2 |
| dvd release | capra_corn |
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The conservative and liberal sides of America seem to have been brought out in sharp relief during the Great Depression. This was a time when solutions were needed. "American Madness" shows the liberal side fighting for fairness and prosperity by what seems odd today, a bank president. The president's populist stance with his loans seems quaint now with today's number-crunching banking corporations, and maybe his was an unrealistic character, or at least rare. Think of the bank president in the "Bank Dick" offering W.C. Field's character a copy of the bank's calendar, "Springtime in Lompoc" and "my heartiest handshake" for saving the money from a robbery. More realistic, if comedic. But think of this: Robert Osborn, on TCM, commented that the movie was inspired by The Bank of Italy, founded in San Francisco by Amadeo Giannini, a bank geared toward working class people and it's reputation was one of basing its loan approvals heavily on the character of the borrower. In 1929, Giannini merged his bank with Bank of America and became its chairman. (By the way, Bank of America financed Harry Cohn's Columbia Pictures which made "American Madness".) Which is all to say that Capra's films so often show a more humane side of people in this country, which of course was there, but it all can seem a little corny in our cynical age. Thing is, what happens if you go to Bank of America now? Will they loan you money based on your "character" ?