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Rip’s Twenty Years’ Sleep
(1896) United States of America
B&W : [?] 25 or 135? feet
Directed by Wallace McCutcheon
Cast: Joseph Jefferson [Rip Van Winkle], [?] ? [the leader of the dwarves], [?] ? [a second dwarf], [?] ? [a third dwarf], [?] ? [a fourth dwarf].
American Mutoscope Company production; distributed by American Mutoscope Company. / Cinematography by [?] W.K.L. Dickson? / © 7 January 1897 by American Mutoscope Company [3551]. © 29 December 1902 by American Mutoscope & Biograph Company [H25404]. Premiered 12 October 1896 at Hammerstein’s Olympia Music Hall Theatre in New York, New York. / Mutoscope 68mm spherical 1.36:1 format. / [?] Ramsaye-Million p. 216 implies that the films in the Rip Van Winkle series were taken late in 1895; Website-AFI notes that Biograph promotional materials state that the film was taken in August 1896 in Buzzard’s Bay, Massachusetts. The production was shot at approximately 36 frames per second. The film was made for Mutoscope viewing and (later) for Biograph projection and was shown for the first Biograph system program. The sixth film in the eight-film Rip Van Winkle series; preceeded by Rip’s Toast to Hudson and Crew (1896); followed by Awakening of Rip (1896). The Joseph Jefferson Mutoscope films were assembled into a continuous narrative and rereleased in the USA as Rip Van Winkle by American Mutoscope & Biograph Company in 1903.
Drama: Fantasy.
Synopsis: Rip Van Winkle and four dwarves are in the woods, when Rip falls down to the ground. Rip props himself up to make a last appeal for help from the world, and the dwarves disappear from sight. Rip falls asleep. (At the end of the shot, two of the dwarf actors stand up and one removes his hat.)
Survival status: Print exists in the Library of Congress film archive (paper print collection).
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 7 September 2023.
References: Film viewing : Ball-Shakespeare pp. 22, 389; Bardèche-History p. 43; Blum-Silent p. 8; Ramsaye-Million p. 216; Robinson-Palace pp. 64, 123; Shipman-Cinema p. 28; Slide-Early p. 12 : Website-AFI; Website-IMDb.
Home video: DVD.
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