It was in the making of American Madness that I made a rather startling discovery about pace. A scene that, to me, was normal in pace during its photography, or when viewed by a few people in a small studio projection, seemed to slow down when I saw the same scene projected on a large screen before a theaterful of people. And since American Madness dealt with crowd reaction to rumors, panic, and faith, I decided to counteract the apparent “slowing down” of a film’s pace in theaters by artificially quickening the pace during photography. First, I cut out the long walks, such as prolonged entrances and exits of actors. I jumped the performers in and out of the heart of the scenes. Second, I cut out “dissolves”. Third, I overlapped speeches. Fourth, and this was a radical change, I speeded up the pace of the scenes to about one-third above normal. During photography the speed of the scenes seemed exaggerated – in fact, it was exaggerated – but when American Madness hit the theater screens, the pace seemed normal! Moreover, there was a sense of urgency, a new interest, that kept audience attention riveted on the screen.

Frank Capra, The Name above the Title, MacMillan, 1971