IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,5
Director: Frank Capra
Main Cast: Walter Huston, Pat O'Brien, Kay Johnson, Constance Cummings
"American Madness was the first of Frank Capra's topical social dramas, anticipating his later, broader work in this sub-genre with Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Meet John Doe, and It's A Wonderful Life (two vital elements of which - a key scene midway through the picture and the denouement - were derived from the key dramatic moment in this movie). Indeed, it stands at the nexus of Capra's early career, between actual events that took place at the Bank of Italy, involving its founder A. P. Giannini, and the decade-and-a-half of cinematic storytelling that the director would generate out of moments such as that. And for fans of the filmmaker's uplifting, socially conscious brand of story-telling (which also figures into such comedies as It Happened One Night and You Can't Take It With You), this film is a great discovery on that basis alone. It has its flaws but those can be overlooked in the context of the bigger picture here - in 1932, Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin were getting away with a lot just making a movie like this, which was not entirely well-received in cities that had seen bank runs in recent months and years (it closed in Baltimore, where such incidents had occurred, in just two days). But American Madness is much more than a social statement - it's a great visual and cinematic narrative achievement, showing how a master filmmaker's vision, coupled with that of a bold screenwriter (Robert Riskin, who would loom large across Capra's career through the 1940's), could devise what amounts to a symphony on the screen.
Walter Huston is terrific as Dickson, a quirky but shrewd financier who is capable of understanding people's financial problems. He's also courteous to his employees and very faithful to his bored wife; at the same time he has a deep grasp of the duty of financial institutions to distribute money into circulation. In what is perhaps the most astute quote in the film, 'Character', he muses, 'is the only thing you can bank on!'
This was one of Huston's earliest roles; it ranks with Dodsworth (1936) and Abraham Lincoln (1930) as his very best." - www.allmovie.com
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