The Hessian Renegades (1909) User Reviews (9)

1776: Hollywood's Attic

[ryangilmer007 · 7/10 · 19 June 2000]

This is an early Pickford and Griffith project about the early stages of the 1976 revolution. The Renegade Hessians live in a farm house, but when the Brit's follow one of the renegades home he is forced to hide in a suitcase. The Brit's eventually find him out and chaos insues as the Brit's guard the house.

Pickford has a minor role in this short, but the part where she dresses up as a Brit soldier is funny/interesting.

The topic is also good and is one of the better Griffith films.

Its on screen title is "1776 or The Hessian Renegades". This is interestingly the #9 film on a tape of Hollywood's Attic (The Mary Pickford collection). The order of the films on the tape seems to be in decreasing order of how much Mary Pickford is in the film.

I recommend it, especially in light of increased amounts of 1776/patriotic/revolutionary films of late.

However, it is probably destined to get only minor viewing like so much early cinema.

My one dislike of the film is that it uses the same score as every other short on the tape and this monotony gets redundant.

Yet, the music score still helps and there are few titles throughout the show, so it flies by.

Not one of Griffith's best...

[JoeytheBrit · 5/10 · 25 September 2010]

This isn't one of Griffith's better early shorts simply because it doesn't really have much of a story to tell. A young American soldier attempting to deliver a message to Washington is pursued by thuggish British soldiers. He hides in the home of a patriotic family but is eventually discovered and shot by the leader of the thuggish Brits. However, thanks to the bravery of the family patriarch, the tables are eventually turned.

Although there is some evidence of the parallel editing for which Griffith would become famous, it does little here to create any sense of tension. The static camera shoots from a distance, and only one shot in which the pursued soldier runs towards (and to the right of) the camera followed by the thuggish Brits strays from the proscenium style of staging a shot. Despite it's short running time, the film is padded out to fill a one-reel duration - but, on the plus side, a young Mary Pickford looks fetching in a thuggish Brit uniform

Rise up, resist

[mickeythechamp · 6/10 · 27 June 2023]

It´s interesting to see Griffith still holding on to this war epic tradition, even on a smaller scale like this. 1776 or the hessian renegade has an interesting dual nature to it I don´t even think Griffith was aware of when making it. While is easy to say you are with the townspeople in this story, there still is a bit of roughness to the ending that really dose something. It´s a cookie cutter good and evil story that is fun enough. It´s a bit primitive but still has some cool aspects to it.

During the American revolution a soldier needs to deliver a message to George Washinton. He is ambushed and hides in a civilian household. The soldier must now hide while the house is being searched.

The effects are a bit primitive here but that´s to be expected. The guns don´t really hit where they should and the explosions can look a bit goofy, but it really helps the dramatic effect. It seems very theatrical as movies from that time.

The movie also has some problems with it´s story elements. I think some elements where left in just because the director found them funny, like the girl dressing as a soldier for no reason. The shifting of hiding spots also work in context but still feels a bit out of place.

There is this one ugly cut, but other than that the movie is rather beautiful. It has some great costuming and makeup with some decent frames. The house though, it looks out of place somehow. A bit too modern for what I expected. It was a bit distracting and gave me student movie vibes.

The movie has this clear cut good and evil side. The villain soldiers don't just kill, they also harass a woman, just to really drive home they are evil. I still think there is some empathy for the villains at the end, but that´s my reading and I don't think that was the intended reaction.

I like the story of civilians rising up against people they find evil and respectless. They even turn a bit respectless as karma towards the end. While they are definitely too armed for civilians, it´s a good story about rising up against something you can´t tolerate, a theme Griffith loves to do.

The lack of music is to be expected for the age of the movie but can be a bit jarring. I personally didn't notice it too much as my head filled in the missing pieces pretty well.

Again a just fine short. It´s interesting, is clear cut and easy to follow. Nothing incredible, but entertaining enough.

For Wardrobe Watchers

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 12 November 2007]

While the American Revolution rages, Owen Moore, "a brave American officer trying to get news of a British attack to General Washington," leaves home on his mission. He is immediately attacked by German Hessians, working for the British crown. Mr. Moore manages to make it back home, where father James Kirkwood is able to conceal him from the imminent intruders. "The Hessian Renegades" terrify Moore's family, as they try to keep the young soldier hidden. Soon, murder and sexual harassment rock the soldier's family...

Mary Pickford takes a turn to stand out, among the usual Biograph regulars, by dressing up as a soldier; not surprisingly, she is a very unconvincing young man! It's fun to spot director D.W. Griffith's other regulars. This story, aka "1776 or the Hessian Renegades" isn't one of the director's better early offerings - however, there are a few highlights. Watch for Mr. Kirkwood to suffer a split pants "wardrobe malfunction" in the last few seconds!

*** The Hessian Renegades (9/6/09) D.W. Griffith ~ James Kirkwood, Owen Moore, Mary Pickford

A Good Short Feature

[Snow Leopard · 1 August 2002]

This entertaining short feature has an interesting story set in the American Revolution, and it includes Mary Pickford in a small role. It has plenty of action, some suspense, and some lighter moments as well. The story starts when a young American soldier seeks the help of an ordinary family as he tries to deliver a crucial message, and then involves their plans to outwit the brutish Hessian mercenaries who are pursuing him. As one of the family's daughters, Pickford has only a small role, but she plays an amusing part in their scheme. As history, it's probably not to be taken too seriously, but it's good entertainment, and the story works pretty well.

Silent movie pussycat

[mrdonleone · 4/10 · 4 May 2020]

Okay so then people are dancing and running and for the family and theirs is treasure going on but we don't know what's going on unless we listen now but mentioned in those days people who don't know what they were seen and the other thing wasn't done greatly and the cinematography was a bit absurd we wouldn't know it was going to happen that is a sad thing about this movie that has seen ran against we don't know what's going on if you don't know history lessons I know the majority of the people is stupid so they don't know and then of course I can happen baby suddenly images that are great but we don't know for sure and then we just know that and tell if it is what's my sweetie pie you are scaring me near division Street watch Oscar go away anytime to go away Oscar go away Oscar go awayand then of course that he doesn't like doing this because he's watching the DW Griffith movie and it's a silent movie if you must make a bit of music do do do do do and then of course the discussion we don't know ice cream baby look look at the face go away go away the fan supposed to be back okay ask her baby okay military c I have to remindoh I love you yes I love you ask her baby come here I love you and always have all these happening the other thing is of course not good but the scientist little bit Yeah Oscar baby baby and then of course that pussy cat pussy cat and she spun and she's buying cuz it's another Pickford we can expect the best of the big first and then before we know it we concluded it's not such a great movie

"His mission will be fulfilled"

[Steffi_P · 8/10 · 16 August 2008]

The Hessian Renegades is a key film in Griffith's early career. It doesn't really introduce anything new, but it is a particularly well-executed example of the uncomplicated action pieces that he had turned his developing style upon. It also hints towards many of the more advanced techniques he would later incorporate.

Griffith's experimentation at this time was mostly around the psychological impact of space and depth. Griffith realised that while the edges of the frame imposed stage-like limits (cameras did not move much in those days), the field of depth did not. In the opening burst of action we see a chase in which pursuer and pursued run towards the camera. This not only makes the most of the static camera position, but also involves the audience by having us overwhelmed by the enemy soldiers. You can see similar shots in Nursing a Viper which was made around the same time. It's likely these chase scenes lead indirectly to the development of the close-up, as for a brief instant faces are brought menacingly close to the screen.

Effective as it is, this kind of chase shot was more or less unique to its time in Griffith's cinema. Later chases would involve dynamic cross-cutting. Here however the editing is purely functional, to show changes from one location to another as the story demands. The central suspense scene - in which the soldiers search for the hidden messenger, is mostly done in one take because it mostly goes in one room. Griffith does of course begin parallel editing in the action-filled finale - but again this is largely functional, because he is showing different things going on in different places at the same time. Griffith must have noticed however that this actually made the sequence more exciting, because soon after this he would start to use parallel editing as a tension-building technique. The suspense sequence is actually one of the last long takes in Griffith's career.

What is really great about Hessian Renegades though is how purely visual it is. There are only two intertitles - one at the beginning and one at the end. The bulk of the story is conveyed through the acting, and all without resorting to the over-the-top pantomiming that mars many early films.

It's clear that some kind of visual language is beginning to appear. Of course, the importance of the Biograph shorts has mostly been realised in retrospect, but still it was around this time that Griffith was beginning to be recognised as an outstanding filmmaker.

2 by Griffith

[Michael_Elliott · 7 March 2008]

Little Darling (1909)

*** (out of 4)

D.W. Griffith short about a bunch of bachelors who try to impress a woman by buying her niece some toys since she's coming to town. What they don't know is that this young girl is actually an older woman (Mary Pickford). This is more of a minor piece for Griffith but the comic timing is nice.

1776 (1909)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

D.W. Griffith short set during the American Revolution. An American soldier must get a letter of warning to George Washington while being cased by some British troops. Here's one where Griffith goes all out with an interesting story, great editing and some nice suspense. The film works very well as an early thriller. Mary and Lottie Pickford star along with Henry B. Walthall.

Mary Gets into the action

[adt125 · 8/10 · 20 August 2008]

This little short is interesting for showing the evolution of Griffith's film making, Pickford's movement into more active roles, this is her first year and, the character list some of whom were to be part of Mary Pickford's later life.

We all get to see a rare glimpse of the tragic Florence Lawrence - a star at the time but unfortunate events and sickness would lead to her being on the outside and to suicide in 1938. We also have Owen Moore, the man who criticized Mary on her very first visit to biograph, also becoming Mary's first love interest and later, drunken abusive husband.

The ever present, solid and reliable Kate Bruce also appears. Mary gets her little sister Lottie into the scene. Kirkman was to be part of Mary's future life and of course Mac Sennett went on to be a producer - more than 700 movies and acting in 356.

It is a curiosity piece and should be judged on the standards and development of the day and 1909 makes this effort a good one.

The building used in the closing scenes of this film is used in the opening scenes of Willful Peggy 1910.