Something to Think About (Silent) (DVD)

David Markley has more wealth than anyone can imagine, but love eludes him. Born without the use of his legs, his insecurities squash any hope of romance. When a poor blacksmith saves his life, David repays the old man by financing the education of his pretty daughter, Ruth. After she returns from college, her benefactor is struck by the girl's newfound class and sophistication. Ruth, however, is engaged to her father's apprentice, a strapping young man who is everything David isn't. But when he is killed in a freak accident, the crippled millionaire must finally summon the bravery to win Ruth's heart.

Something To Think About is one of a series of "social problem" pictures made by Cecil B. DeMille during the silent era. In this case, the legendary director tackled the issue of young couples marrying for the wrong reasons. Star Gloria Swanson was then at the height of her fame working alongside DeMille, who had made her famous with Male and Female (1919) and Why Change Your Wife? (1920). Their association would come to an end with the following year's The Affairs of Anatol (1921). The director himself would leave social issues behind when he made his first historical epic, The Ten Commandments, in 1923. During pre-production for Something To Think About, DeMille hired a young photographer named Karl Struss as cameraman. He would subsequently become one of the great cinematographers of the cinema, shooting Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (for which he won an Oscar; 1929), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Great Dictator (1940) and Limelight (1952). When actor Elliott Dexter hurt himself prior to shooting, DeMille incorporated his injury into the screenplay by making his character handicapped.

• silent