According to film historian Kevin Brownlow in "The Blot," "Weber's technique is reminiscent of that of William C. deMille, with its quietness, in its use of detail, and its emphasis on naturalism. Weber used the same method of direction, too, filming in continuity." To tell with maximum realism this story of a college professor's family – hardworking but with only a meager income – Weber filmed in real houses, using a special lighting rig, and gave supporting roles to non-actors. To emphasize this film was a woman-centered narrative, in a "radical departure from Hollywood practice", Weber used point-of-view cutting from the perspective of the professor's wife. Weber also used extreme close-ups and an ambiguous ending, that Richard Combs describes "The Blot" as "so un-Griffithian as to seem almost modernistically open-ended", while others see it as almost surreal, declaring it "the "Los Olvidados" of the literally down at heel middle class".