Fails the Bechdel test
American Madness
1932. Directed by Frank Capra and Allan Dwan and Roy William Neill, written by Robert Riskin.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
During the 1930s Depression, the Board of Directors of Thomas Dickson's bank want him to merge with New York Trust and resign; he refuses. One night, his bank is robbed of $100,000. The suspect is Matt Brown, an ex-convict whom Dickson hired and appointed Chief Teller. Brown, who's very loyal to Dickson, refuses to say where he was that night. He actually has two witnesses for his alibi, Mrs. Dickson and fellow worker Cyril Cluett, but Brown is protecting Dickson from finding out that Mrs. Dickson was with Cluett having a romantic evening. Cluett, who has a $50,000 gambling debt, is actually responsible for the robbery, but lets Brown take the rap. Will Brown's loyalty to Mr. Dickson pay off, or send him back to prison?
- Released
- 15 Aug 1932
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery
- Rated
- Passed
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dickson 135 lines, man
- Matt 63 lines, man
- Cluett 50 lines, man
- Helen 50 lines, woman
- Inspector 50 lines
- Mrs. Dickson 36 lines, woman
- Clark 34 lines, man
- Sampson 21 lines, man
- Oscar 20 lines, man
- Charlie 19 lines, man
Full cast, 35 people
- Walter Huston as Thomas Dickson
- Pat O'Brien as Matt Brown
- Kay Johnson as Phyllis Dickson
- Constance Cummings as Helen
- Gavin Gordon as Cyril Cluett
- Arthur Hoyt as Ives
- Robert Emmett O'Connor as Police Inspector
- Edwin Maxwell as Clark (uncredited)
- Sterling Holloway as Oscar (uncredited)
- Robert Ellis as Dude Finlay (uncredited)
- Tom Dugan as Depositor (uncredited)
- Charley Grapewin as Mr. Jones (uncredited)
- Harry C. Bradley as Sampson (uncredited)
- Eddy Chandler as Kelly (uncredited)
- Berton Churchill as O'Brien (uncredited)
- Sarah Edwards as Gossip on Phone (uncredited)
- Julia Griffith as Gossip on Phone (uncredited)
- Sherry Hall as Carter (uncredited)
- Harry Holman as Loan-Seeker (uncredited)
- Anderson Lawler as Charlie (uncredited)
- Ralph Lewis as Judge (uncredited)
- Edward Martindel as Ames (uncredited)
- J. Pat O'Malley as Dr. Strong (uncredited)
- Tempe Pigott as Mrs. Halligan (uncredited)
- Jeanne Sorel as Cluett's Secretary (uncredited)
- Harry Todd as Tom Gardner (uncredited)
- Fred 'Snowflake' Toones as Sam (uncredited)
- Polly Walters as Blonde Phone Operator (uncredited)
- Eddie Foster
- Pat O'Malley
- Lee Phelps
- Harry Semels
- Joan Standing
- Emma Tansey
- Walter Walker
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 17% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 100
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 7 to 9 | 7 | 28 |
| 10 to 12 | 6 | 42 |
| 13 to 15 | 7 | 34 |
| 16 to 18 | 2 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 2 | 25 |
| 22 to 24 | 16 | 23 |
| 25 to 27 | 9 | 17 |
| 28 to 30 | 20 | 32 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 9 |
| 34 to 36 | 7 | 22 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 15 |
| 40 to 42 | 2 | 12 |
| 43 to 45 | 1 | 6 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 12 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 20 |
| 52 to 54 | 13 | 35 |
| 55 to 57 | 1 | 5 |
| 58 to 60 | 5 | 11 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 3 |
| 70 to 72 | 1 | 11 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 0 |
| 76 to 78 | 3 | 10 |
| 79 to 81 | 1 | 4 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 1 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 2 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 12 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 2 |
| 100 to 100 | 2 | 11 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 21 are women's.
109 lines from women, 415 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 26 men in the cast. 3 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 43 of 629.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 42 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 17% of the words (1,013), men 83% (5,020). Women have 21% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
1
Two men
34
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 8 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 0% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Frank Capra (man)
- Story by
- Robert Riskin (man)
- Produced by
- Harry Cohn (man), Frank Capra (man)
- Shot by
- Joseph Walker (man)
- Edited by
- Maurice Wright (man)
- Music by
- Mischa Bakaleinikoff (man), Karl Hajos (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
0 women, 2 men
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Art
0 women, 1 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Constance Cummings 22, Kay Johnson 27
Men
Sterling Holloway 27, Gavin Gordon 31, Pat O'Brien 32, Robert Ellis 40, Edwin Maxwell 46, Robert Emmett O'Connor 47, Walter Huston 49, Arthur Hoyt 58
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 100 scenes and 629 lines of dialogue. How the test works
