Capra didn't really change much between films, did he? With the exception of "The Bitter Tea Of General Yen" and "It Happened One Night" almost all his films are brutally flawed by his simplistic, idealistic need to make social commentary on big business and corrupted morals. I have no problems with making a statement about the fat cats of the world, but hearing "Come and see...something extraordinary has happened!" at the end of every Capra film where the idealistic hero is saved from ruin makes me cringe. "American Madness" is an early pre-cursor to "It's A Wonderful Life", with Walter Huston the good guy bank manager who gives out loans based on his faith in people's character. Of course his board of directors don't like that. So Huston has to deal with that and a robbery and subsequent bank run. A rather boring sub-plot has him have to deal with his dissatisfied wife as well (Kay Johnson). Huston is excellent, Pat O'Brien (as the ex-con suspected of robbing the bank) quite good, and both save a lot of the preachy moments of the film but the supporting cast are very average. As with most Capra films, save "Yen", it's visually unappealing. There's not even that much Pre-Code naughtiness to get things to fire!
Review of American Madness
