Rescued by Rover
UK, 1905
Director: Lewin Fitzhamon, CM Hepworth
Language: Silent
Colour: Black and white
Running Time: 5 minutes
Short Synopsis
When a baby is kidnapped by an old beggar woman, the faithful family dog Rover comes to its rescue.
Long synopsis
Featuring a faithful dog that becomes the hero of the story, this film could be considered the forerunner of the Lassie films The production company Hepworth is still best remembered for this highly innovative short which was the most famous of all early British Films and is now considered a 'classic' of early narrative construction.
In the opening scene of the film we see the dog Rover plays with a baby in the living room. In the afternoon, the baby is taken out by her nurse. A beggar woman asks the nurse for money, but she refuses. While the nurse flirts with a soldier, she takes her eye off the pram. The beggar woman takes advantage of this and steals the baby.
As the nurse tells the baby's mother what has happened Rover listens intently. He jumps through the window and races down the streets , around a corner and across a river. He finds a collection of slum dwellings and goes from door to door. Finally hitting upon the right one, he enters, finding the beggar woman with the baby. She shoos him away, so he returns home and pleads with the baby's father to accompany him. He follows Rover in a boat across the river, and Rover leads him to the beggar woman. The baby is rescued and returned to his mother. Rover skips happily around them.
Background information
About the film
In 1905 the producer Cecil Hepworth presented the first British movie star, a collie with the stage name of Rover. Rescued by Rover was an enormous popular success. The following year he presented a new star - a horse - in Black Beauty (1906), which was then teamed with Rover in Dumb Sagacity (1907).
Rescued by Rover is notable for its efficient style, using consistency of direction from one shot to the next to clarify the action, yet Hepworth showed little interest in the development of film language. Indeed, he was to speak out against the narrative system of classical Hollywood films in later years. His interest remained in scenic photography and he brought this pictorial style into his films.
This simple story of a baby being rescued by a dog, shot on a budget of seven pounds thirteen shillings and sixpence (according to the Guinness Book of World Records , this was the least expensive movie to produce) with a cast largely made up of the producer's family ranks amongst the most important films ever made.
But it not only marks a key stage in the medium's development from an amusing novelty to the "seventh art", Rescued By Rover marks also possibly the only point in film history when British cinema unquestionably led the world.
By 1905, most films consisted of multiple shots, but their narratives were still conceived on an essentially "theatrical" model, in that they consisted of a series of self-contained "acts". By contrast, Rescued By Rover's director Lewin Fitzhamon regarded individual shots as small pieces of a larger jigsaw making up the whole film, a much more "cinematic" treatment.
While a simple shot of a dog running down a street might seem banal if watched in isolation, we know from what has already been shown that it's going to rescue a kidnapped baby girl, and by cutting on action (i.e. when the dog leaves one frame it enters the next) he not only creates fast-paced narrative continuity but also builds a complex 'character' out of what is essentially an animal performing a series of simple tricks for the camera, filmed one at a time. Fitzhamon also structured, framed and occasionally panned his shots to emphasise movement, creating a sense of pace and excitement that was unprecedented for the time and the film language established by Rescued By Rover is still largely the one in use today.
The film was so successful, with over 400 copies ordered, that the Hepworth Manufacturing Company had to make two shot-by-shot remakes to compensate for the first two negatives wearing out. Its style and canine subject matter were both highly influential, with Hepworth himself producing Dumb Sagacity (1907) and The Dog Outwits the Kidnappers (1908) and fellow pioneer James Williamson being one of many who jumped on this bandwagon with titles like The £100 Reward (1908).
For more early filmlike that see also the BFI DVD or VHS compilations Early Cinema: Primitives and Pioneers
About the film-makers
Born in London in 1874, the son of celebrated magic lantern showman T.C. Hepworth, Cecil Hepworth was one of the founders of the British film industry. A producer, director, writer and scenic photographer, Cecil Hepworth survived in the film business longer than any other British pioneer film-maker, directing and producing many films from 1898 into the late 1920's.
In the early days of cinema, he worked on the periphery of the industry, assisting and writing the first British book on cinema, Animated Photography, The ABC of the Cinematograph in 1897. After being sacked, Hepworth and his cousin Monty Wicks set up their own company, Hepworth and Co, with their trade logo Hepwix. Over the next few years Hepworth and Co made a steady stream of scenic films and actualities, with Hepworth as cameraman/director. Their first popular success came with the filming of the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901. In 1904 the company was renamed the Hepworth Manufacturing Company, and Hepworth stopped directing, handing the reigns over to others such as Lewin Fitzhamon. The company began to develop a house style, based on simple stories told with high photographic quality. Hepworth produced on average three films a week, ranging from melodramas and slapstick comedies to scenics and travel films.
Hepworth was instrumental in developing the industry through his use of cutting to produce a coherent film narrative.
Lewin Fitzhamon worked with Hepworth for eight years, during which time he wrote, directed and frequently acted in two films per week. He showed himself to be accomplished in a wide range of narrative forms to suit the emerging cinema business, directing over 400 films in his career.
Teaching materials and additional materials
The teaching materials have been developed by practising teachers to provide a springboard for your own work with your pupils. Feel free to use and adapt them appropriate to your pupils' needs.
The additional materials, provided by the film-makers, can be used to develop your work with the film and deepen pupils' understanding of the process of film-making.
