A motor-driven film rewinder rewinds a roll of film loaded into a cassette and wound up on a film take-up spool of a camera. A signal generator generates a film movement signal as the film moves. A film movement stoppage detector is connected to the signal generator to output a film movement stoppage signal when no film movement signal is output from the signal generator for a first reference period of time. A motor controller is responsive to the film movement stoppage signal from the film movement stoppage detector to stop the operation of the motor-driven film rewinder. A timer starts a time count operation at a point of time at which the motor-driven film rewinder begins a film rewinding operation and keeps the film rewinder performing the film rewinding operation for a second reference period of time longer than the first reference period of time. The motor controller operates after a lapse of the second reference period of time. That is, at the time of a film rewind operation, the motor-driven film rewinder keeps operating for the second reference period of time regardless of whether the film is transported or not. After a lapse of the second reference period of time, the motor-driven film rewinder is stopped at a point of time at which the first reference period of time elapses from when the film movement is stopped.