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Director Cecil B. DeMille adapted the screenplay for Kindling from a play by Charles A. Kenyon. Charlotte Walker plays Maggie Schultz, a young wife and mother-to-be. Through no fault of her own, Maggie becomes the dupe of a gang of burglars. Having already run the gamut of sorrow and misfortune, she despairs at the possibility that her child will be born in prison. Fortunately, the compassionate victim of the burglars takes pity on Maggie and refuses to prosecute, allowing her to return to her husband Heine (Thomas Meighan). In addition to being one of the last WWI-era films to feature sympathetic German characters, Kindling also represented one of the first starring assignments for popular leading man Thomas Meighan. Director DeMille would soon abandon the "naturalistic" style of this film, preferring instead to indulge himself in slick sex farces and overly opulent spectacles.