Hiawatha (1909) User Reviews

Wooden Indian

[boblipton · 6/10 · 18 January 2006]

This is the first film produced by Carl Laemmle's IMP Company. That means it is the ancestor of all of Universal Studio's Production and a weapon in the War that brought down the Motion Picture Trust in 1918. At times it was Uncle Carl against everyone in the industry, and that included Thomas Edison. He won.

But should you spend your time looking at this antique?

It's an interesting production for 1909. First, there are some beautiful location shots of the (then) exurban Fort Lee, New Jersey area, including a magnificent waterfall that may have been Passaic Falls. Second, there was the daring of doing a movie profusely titled, from Longfellow's poem -- the courtship of Minnehaha.

When it comes to acting, however, this movie is no great shakes, even by the standards of the time. At times the movie turns funny -- unintentionally, when it illustrates the poem literally.

I'll give this movie a six out of ten, but mostly for historical interest.

Something worth while has been added to the motion picture world

[deickemeyer · 11 January 2015]

If the Imp films are all as good as the first one released, a pictorial rendition of Longfellow's great poem, something worth while has been added to the beauty and attractiveness of the motion picture world, something which could not now be discontinued without leaving a sense of loss that would be difficult to replace. This picture was made at the Falls of Minnehaha, in the land of the Dakotahs, and represents some unusually attractive pictorial worth. The actors who did the posing clearly reproduced the scenes so graphically described in the poem, and interpreted the spirit of the lines in a manner which leaves comparatively little to be desired. The achievement is all the more striking when it is remembered what a difficult piece of work it must be to reproduce a poem like this, so subtle in its meaning, and so full of psychological suggestions. Yet the "Imp" players have accomplished this, and probably every person who has seen the new film has left the theater with a new sense of appreciation of the marvels and beauties of the motion picture in interpreting even the masterpieces of poetry and fiction. - The Moving Picture World, November 6, 1909