"inherit the wind" (1960) became kramer's next challenging film, this one taking on the highly charged subjects of creationism and evolution, and how they are taught in school. the film, an adaptation of the play of the same name, written by jerome lawrence and robert edwin lee, was a fictionalized account of the 1925 scopes trial, which concerned a violation of tennessee's butler act. this law had made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school in tennessee. it starred spencer tracy, portraying the real clarence darrow, defending the teacher, and fredric march as his rival attorney, william jennings bryan, who insisted that creationism was the only valid subject that should be taught to children. it was nominated for four academy awards.