As the Great Depression reached one of its lowest points in early 1932, Columbia assigned Robert Riskin to write a screenplay called Faith (later retitled American Madness). The subject was a bold and timely one: a run on a bank. More than 3,600 American banks had failed since the end of 1929, one fifth of all the banks in the country, and Columbia depended heavily on the beleaguered Bank of America. The film was designed to encourage viewers to keep their money fluid and to trust savings institutions. Riskin modeled the film's idealistic, energetic bank president (played by Walter Huston) on the Bank of America's Dr. Attilo H. (Doc) Giannini, who was in charge of motion picture lending in Hollywood. Capra took over the direction early in the shooting and brought his own skills for creating dramatic excitement and a realistic blend of despair and optimism. Though Capra had nothing to do with the writing other than adding a silent bank-robbery sequence, American Madness set the pattern for the “Capraesque” (or “Riskinesque”) films of social commentary the team would make with such success in the New Deal era.