The day the bank was stormed
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The day the bank was stormed |
| Original title | American Madness |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1932 |
| length | 75 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Frank Capra |
| script | Robert Riskin |
| production |
Harry Cohn , Frank Capra for Columbia Pictures |
| camera | Joseph Walker |
| cut | Maurice Wright |
| occupation | |
| |
The day the bank was stormed (Original title: American Madness ) is an American drama film directed by Frank Capra from 1932.
action
Thomas Dickson is head of the Union National Bank during the Great Depression . The board of directors asks Dickson to merge his bank with another and then resign. Dickson refuses. One night the bank is robbed of US $ 100,000 and a security guard is killed in the process. The suspicion quickly falls on the former criminal Matt Brown, who was personally hired by Dickson and appointed chief cashier. Since Dickson gave him the chance, Matt is loyal to his boss - yet he refuses to say where he was during the night. Brown is silent, otherwise he would have to tell Mr. Dickson that he saw Mrs. Dickson that evening with the young bank clerk Cluett. Both had made a romantic evening after busy Dickson forgot about the wedding day.
Matt therefore obtains a false alibi , which is soon refuted and burdens him even more. In fact, Cluett is behind the bank robbery: In order to offset his gambling debts of 50,000 US dollars with the gang boss Dude Finlay, he betrayed the bank to Finlay, who then robbed them. When police find out that Finlay was seeing Cluett, the case is soon cleared up and Matt is released. In the meantime, however, the bank robbery has led to rumors that the bank was bankrupt. Customers storm the bank and Dickson, who has also learned of his wife's infidelity, wants to commit suicide. However, his friends and companions, even the previously strict board, come to his aid and save the bank. In the end, Dickson and his wife go on their second honeymoon, while Matt can marry his fiancée Helen.
background
American Madness is considered significant as Capra developed many themes that would keep cropping up in his even more successful films in the years that followed. For example, social and political grievances in the Great Depression as well as the struggle of the small individual against a greater power are shown. The idea that an honest manager must defend himself against the panic that arises among customers was also borne out in a scene in Capra's most famous film, Isn't Life Beautiful? picked up again.
In an unmentioned uncredited role as Oscar graduated from Sterling Holloway his film debut.
Reviews
The lexicon of the international film wrote: "Melodrama with turbulent entanglements, in which Capra's later cultivated favorite topics already echo: the description of social grievances as the background for an apology of simple honesty and optimistic individualism."
Leonard Maltin gave the film three stars out of four and especially praised the main actor Huston. The film is "lively, optimistic" and is only weakened by an idiotic romantic subplot. The US film critic Dennis Schwartz wrote: "Although preaching, Capra's film moves at breakneck speed and always delights."
Web links
- The day on which the bank was stormed in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- American Madness at Turner Classic Movies (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The day the bank was stormed. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 21, 2017 .
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide . Plume, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-14-751682-4 , pp. 18 (English).
- ↑ American Madness by Dennis Schwartz