Rescued by Rover

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.

Probably influenced more by Edwin Porter than D W Griffith this early chase movie shows how far film had come since the one shot actualities of the first few years of the century. Interesting studio sets, especially the arclit attic, and remarkable smooth editing. Also makes use of planting, in this case a seemingly innocuous boat, that will play an important role in the latter part of the film. Notable also for an outstanding performance by Blair, the dog, who hits every mark on cue and whose understated performance puts the hammy humans to shame.

The opening shot is that of Rover sitting near the baby of the family, probably just to establish that there is a close and protective relationship there.

Next the nurse is seen taking the baby for a stroll in his carriage. A woman comes up to the nurse and begs for money and is refused. When the nurse's attention is diverted, the angry woman steals the baby. The nurse is rightfully distraught and tells the mother. Rover overhears and goes out to search for the baby. In one of the first cases on film of a dog stereotyping he first searches the local tenement because he assumes a poor person did this. Not being a cop he can just bust down door after door looking until he comes upon the baby. The kidnapper shoos the dog away then gets drunk and goes to sleep. The dog then goes to get the parents so they can retrieve the baby.

It really was all in the family here. Cecil Hepworth directed the film and Mrs. Hepworth wrote the script. Cecil, his wife, and their baby star as the family in the film. Blair, who plays Rover, was the Hepworth family dog. Hepworth continued making films into the 1920s but could not make the transition into longer films with more complex narratives and his business went bankrupt in 1924.

This film does a good job of building suspense - the audience does not know where the kidnapper has taken the child or what she wants with her.

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