Rip Van Winkle is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company. The film is an adaptation of Washington Irving's 1819 short story "Rip Van Winkle" with some differences in the plot. The film focuses on the title character whose idle life is made difficult by his cantankerous wife. Winkle heads into the mountains and encounters spirits of Henry Hudson's men. Upon partaking of their alcohol, Winkle falls into a slumber for twenty years. He returns home and has difficulty proving his identity and must save his property from an unlawful accusation by his rival. After he proves his identity, he is reunited with his family. The title character was played by Frank H. Crane, but the production credits are largely unknown. The film was released on December 6, 1910, and met with positive reviews. The film is presumed lost.

Plot

Though the film is presumed lost, a synopsis survives in The Moving Picture World from December 10, 1910. It states: "Rip Van Winkle, although a loving father to his little girl Meenie and a hail-fellow-well-met with all of his fellow townsmen, is being constantly scolded by his wife for leading an idle and profitless existence. Rip is also fond of the bottle and spends a greater part of his time and money at the village tavern. Catching him entering the house late one night after a day's carousing, his wife Gretchen becomes thoroughly angry with him and drives him from the house. In the face of a terrible storm with only his dog Schneider and his faithful rifle to protect him, Rip wanders toward the mountains. Here he comes across a band of gnomes who are supposed to be the spirits of Heinrich Hudson [sic] and his merry men who disappeared near the Catskill Mountains hundreds of years before, and had never been heard of since. The gnomes give Rip some magic schnapps to drink, and under its influence he goes to sleep for 20 years. When he awakes, he is an old man and in ragged clothes. His dog is dead, and his rifle has rusted away. He makes his way as best he can back to the village, and his own home. But there no one knows him. He finds his wife married to another man, his daughter grown to womanhood, and most of his old friends dead and gone. Rip, however, finally manages to prove his identity, and also to lay claim to his property, which has greatly increased in value during his sleep, in which he is just in time to save from being unlawfully confiscated by his old-time enemy. Happily reunited to his family, Rip looks forward to his declining years with a spirit born of peace and solace."