Rescued By Rover is indeed a milestone in cinematic history in so many ways. Today's audiences may not appreciate the simple story of a dog sniffing out a family's missing baby, but there are several historical aspects of this 1905 film worth noting.
If you somewhat familiar with earlier films coming from Biograph and Edison Studios (the primary film production companies making movies in the early 1900's), a large sampling are "chase" films such as "The Escape Lunatic," "The Moonshiner" and "Personal," all released a year earlier. Since film language was still evolving, these older movies would follow a long string of events which wouldn't conclude until every participant was completely passing by the camera.
In the Hepworth's film one notices the crisp clips that didn't devolve into seemingly unending segments of people going through their paces. Slicing 20 shots into the movie, Cecil Hepworth and primary director Lewin Fitzhammon created a natural flow so appreciated by today's standards. The scenes of the dog tracking the baby zipped along, cutting out unnecessary elongation of extended scenes. Maybe having an animal, with a short attention span, required these scenes to be short. Whatever the reason, Rescued established a new way of editing at a much faster pace.
This was also one of the first movies to use Peter Cooper-Hewitt's new Mercury Vapor Lamps to illuminate an interior movie set. Previously, filming had to be done under the sun in open air or glass studios. One can see the lights plugged in and used during the attic scenes where the drunken woman is with the baby.
Rescue today is primarily known for being the first movie to portray as its hero an animal. The loving family dog of the Hepworth's, Blair, is the star here, a pioneering showcase of an animal carrying the story, a la a Lassie or a Flipper. In addition, the film, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the cheapest movie ever produced, tabbing at a minuscule $37.40. Much of the expense I would imagine was paying for two of the actors, the baby's kidnapper and a soldier.
One last noteworthy aspect is that the film existing today was likely not the original one. Rover was so successful that the Hepworths wore out two other negatives making hundreds of prints for a demanding public and had to reshoot the scenes. The print seen here is likely the third effort of making a new negative for reprints.
If you somewhat familiar with earlier films coming from Biograph and Edison Studios (the primary film production companies making movies in the early 1900's), a large sampling are "chase" films such as "The Escape Lunatic," "The Moonshiner" and "Personal," all released a year earlier. Since film language was still evolving, these older movies would follow a long string of events which wouldn't conclude until every participant was completely passing by the camera.
In the Hepworth's film one notices the crisp clips that didn't devolve into seemingly unending segments of people going through their paces. Slicing 20 shots into the movie, Cecil Hepworth and primary director Lewin Fitzhammon created a natural flow so appreciated by today's standards. The scenes of the dog tracking the baby zipped along, cutting out unnecessary elongation of extended scenes. Maybe having an animal, with a short attention span, required these scenes to be short. Whatever the reason, Rescued established a new way of editing at a much faster pace.
This was also one of the first movies to use Peter Cooper-Hewitt's new Mercury Vapor Lamps to illuminate an interior movie set. Previously, filming had to be done under the sun in open air or glass studios. One can see the lights plugged in and used during the attic scenes where the drunken woman is with the baby.
Rescue today is primarily known for being the first movie to portray as its hero an animal. The loving family dog of the Hepworth's, Blair, is the star here, a pioneering showcase of an animal carrying the story, a la a Lassie or a Flipper. In addition, the film, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the cheapest movie ever produced, tabbing at a minuscule $37.40. Much of the expense I would imagine was paying for two of the actors, the baby's kidnapper and a soldier.
One last noteworthy aspect is that the film existing today was likely not the original one. Rover was so successful that the Hepworths wore out two other negatives making hundreds of prints for a demanding public and had to reshoot the scenes. The print seen here is likely the third effort of making a new negative for reprints.