Rescued by Rover

A young woman is out for a walk in the park when a young man distracts her and allows another woman to nip in and kidnap the baby without being seen. The mother is distraught when she learns of this crime but it appears the baby is lost forever. However faithful family dog Rover sets out to see if he can't locate the tot.

Not great as a story, this film is mostly of interest because of its age and the techniques that must still have been in their infancy at this time. Rather than a static shot of an event, this film tells a dramatic story (albeit in a very simple fashion) and features multiple shots running together over time and space to do it. Yes, of course this is now such a familiar thing that to point it out seems stupid but there we have it – it is relevant. The also quite impressed me in the acting of the dog (who was actually called Blair, I don't care what the IMDb credits say). The DVD gave me the impression that this was merely the Hepworth family pet (they are also in the film themselves) but it does very well with the action and moves on cue but not in a mechanical way that over-trained dogs sometimes do. The reason for this is that the crew set out sausages for him and, where he breaks down one door after another it is because he hasn't found any so moves on! Interesting then for the technique, the manner of story telling and the way the Hepworth family dog is very effective in a key role.

This short film is one of the longest I've seen from Hepworth Manufacturing Company, and it also may be among their most remembered movies that is still watched today. There is some fine camera-work here, with several pans, and I'm sure that for 1905 audiences were interested in seeing a film that actually told a story. While narrative films had been around for awhile, this movie still tells a story very well and manages to be pretty interesting, although the plot is of course pretty predictable by today's standards and the story is simple.

The film stars the Hepworth family dog in the role of Rover, a smart canine. When the family's baby daughter is kidnapped, Rover goes off to find her. That's all that happens here, and of course the kid is located. Later, canine heroes such as Rin-Tin-Tin would probably find inspiration from this, so I suppose this could be considered the first dog rescue picture. On its own, there's not much that people today would find worthwhile, so I wouldn't exactly recommend you see this if you aren't into these early movies.

Then again, if you're a film buff of historian, you would find this to be pretty entertaining. It accomplishes its goal and just goes to show how far we've gotten in movie-making since 1905.

(Note: I was slightly amused that the gypsy woman who kidnaps the baby drinks beer. Before she lies down to sleep, she takes a swig of beer, and lays down but not being satisfied enough she gets up to take another swig).

I'd like to correct the first user comment saying that DW Griffith's influences are easily seen in Rescued by Rover. DW Griffith's first film was in 1908, 4 years after Rescued by Rover. Rescued by Rover shows how directors showed spatial continuity to audiences who were used to seeing overlapping shots. Audiences were very simple during that time and this film helped shape the way an audience watches a film.

Rescued by Rover is really only worth watching for its influence on film. The story is extremely basic and certainly not as suspenseful as it would have been in the early 1900s

The story of "Rescued By Rover" is simple, but it's told quite well for its time. There is good action, good continuity from one scene to the next, and most of the shots are carried off well. It takes a somewhat predictable (and perhaps implausible) story and gives it energy, using occasional cross-cutting and mixing some indoor and outdoor scenes.

The story is the kind of melodrama that was very common in the earliest years of narrative films, but it also features some imaginative touches in the details. Most of the characters are rather plain, so the dog is the liveliest member of the cast. It was probably rather an achievement to get "Rover" to behave so well, and his actions come across as quite believable.

While the story is of a now-familiar kind, it was probably more novel at the time, and in any case this remains a worthwhile example of rather good early story-telling technique.

This is an interesting little film that, for 1905, is pretty good but for today's audiences it's mostly only of historical value. It excels because the film has a plot and pacing and some decent action (at times) for the times. Sure, the film isn't exactly LASSIE, but it's pretty good fare for 1905. The film is about a baby-napping and the faithful Collie who comes to the child's rescue! The problem for me, though, is that although I am a real Cinephile and love historical films, the quality of this film doesn't come close to the really wonderful short films Georges Méliès was making at the same time--with great camera tricks, better and more interesting plots and are much more entertaining today.