The film is notable in that the theme and style strongly resemble German films of the post-WWI period. Thematically, the precept that social duty is superior to family loyalty was commonplace in German literature and film. In particular, the spectacle of an adopted son displacing an interior offspring in a test of physical and moral strength thus proves his worth to society. The central conflict in "Sergeant Madden" recounts the natural son (Curtis) engages in mortal combat with a powerful father (Barry), bears parallels to Sternberg's boyhood struggles with his tyrannical father Moses.