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" ?
Review of American Madness
