Silent Screen Sunday - Rescued By Rover (1905)

This British short film was the first ever motion picture to star a dog.

Rover is played by director Cecil Hepworth’s pet in real life, Blair. Blair, a Rough Collie or English Shepherd, must rush to his humans for help when he becomes the only member of the family to know where their kidnapped baby is being kept hidden. The bulk of the film comprises scenes of the dog racing down roads and under, over, or through any number of natural and manmade obstacles to find the baby, report back to his people, then bring the anxious father (also Hepworth) for assistance.

The short was such a massive hit in the UK in 1905, and film was so delicate, it had to be remade multiple times to meet demand. After going largely unseen for nearly 100 years, Rescued By Rover was released in a fantastic DVD boxed set in 2002 by Kino Video: The Movies Begin: A Treasury of Early Cinema, 1894-1913. Watch closely and you’ll catch more dogs beyond Rover in these early flickers.

Produced by Hepworth

Blair: The Beginning of Canine Film Stars

It seems fitting for the first post of this blog, which is dedicated to dogs in film, to be about the first canine movie star; Blair. A male Collie, Blair was the star of Cecil Hepworth's six and a half minute film, Rescued by Rover (1905). 

In the film, "Rover," must rescue a baby who has been stolen from her maid by a gypsy. He trails them to an attic hideout, then races home to bring the infant's father (Hepworth) back to save her. Most of the footage is devoted to the dog's brave journey, a brand new concept in film at the time. The public loved it and Rescued by Rover became so popular it had to be remade twice because the original negative degraded to badly.

Hepworth cast his own wife, who also wrote Rescued by Rover, and baby daughter for the film, as well as the family dog, Blair.

Pictured: Blair with the Hepworths in a scene at the end of Rescued by Rover.