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has such a theme. It has been used effectively, too, in manycomedies. "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" is a comedy with a big theme — the advance which civilization has made and the power of scientific knowledge over charlatanism and superstition.
"Male and Female," picturized by Cecil De Mille from J. M. Barrie's stage play, "The Admirable Crichton," has a big theme. A group of characters are shipwrecked on a desert island. In the group are an English nobleman, his two daughters, two of his servants and a young man belonging to the aristocracy. They find themselves in a state of savagery, stripped of all the luxuries of civilization to which they have been accustomed. They have only the torn, wet clothing which they wear. To live they must find food and build some sort of habitation for protection. Under the stress of circumstances the characters who have been pampered and weakened by their social environment are absolutely inefficient. One of the servants — a butler — because of his innate executive ability — rises to the situation and proves himself the master. The aristocrats bow to the leadership of their former servant. In this entirely new environment he builds a new social scheme of things in which he himself is king.
After having lived for some time on this desert island the group is finally rescued by a passing ship. Once more in their old environment, the aristocrats again take on their attitude of social superiority, and the servant drops back into his former habit of servitude. Racial inheritances had made this servant a man of initiative, a leader. But the environment into which he was born had cramped the exercise of his innate powers.
Innumerable variations of this theme may be worked out in different photodramas — the power of environment over inheritance. Much of our crime is due to it. Men who have been in prison — the thinking ones — all bear witness to this power of environment.
THEME OF MOTHERHOOD
"Over the Hill" is built on the theme of motherhood and its tragedy of dependence. A mother is left homeless, with no means to care for herself in her old age. She is shifted about
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