Rescued by Rover

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.

That was quite an amazing dog. He is smarter than any of the humans in this little film. When some really weird woman kidnaps a baby while the nursemaid is making whoopee with a police officer, Rover listens, then goes in search of the little girl. He also has the ability to communicate with humans. Obviously, this is pure poppycock when it comes to reality.

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).

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.

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.