La Légende de Rip Van Winkle

"The Legend of Rip Van Winkle" (aka "Rip's Dream") is a 14 minute long film from French filmmaker Georges Méliès. IMDB says it's 10 minutes in length but the version I found on YouTube lasted 14. Some difference can occur due to cranking speed (silent cameras were hand-cranked...and so speeds varied widely), but not four minutes worth.

As far as the story goes, it looks as if no one associated with the movie ever actually READ "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving. So much of the story is wrong that it looks as if they just took the broadest notionn of the story and put it on film. The back story is gone and much of what follows is wrong. It's a real shame, as what Méliès did otherwise was terrific--really nice sets, costumes and decent acting for the time. It's also a shame that some portions are degraded and the hand-colored stock is ugly (especially at the bginning).

Provided you don't really want to learn about Rip Van Winkle, this isn't a bad film. I think it's of much more value as an example of the craft of Georges Méliès and the story itself is of little interest.