Rip van Wyk (1960)

This South African modern take on the Rip Van Winkle story is set in 1859 and 1959. Rip van Wyk is a simple farmer from a small village who’s a crack shot with a rifle. He’s in love with the daughter of an innkeeper, Rina, who also loves him but he’s too shy to ask her to marry him. At a celebration at the inn he is tricked into drinking some hard liquor by his opponent in a shooting match which causes him to lose the contest. On his way home he meets a mysterious well dressed stranger who persuades him to drink a potion after which Rip immediately falls asleep. Upon awakening he finds himself in a strange new world and he eventually discovers that he has slept for 100 years but unlike the original story, he hasn’t aged. He happens to see a woman whom he takes to be Rina (played by the same actress) but his insistence that he knows her leads to his arrest and confinement in the home of a psychiatrist. From time to time the mysterious stranger reappears but always vanishes when Rip tries to show him to anyone else. The stranger’s motivation for transporting Rip to the future remains a mystery to Rip and the viewer until the end. The tone of the film is lighthearted but the ending is quite touching.

★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (7/10)

Rip van Wyk at imdb.com

Rip van Wyk is available for streaming on Odnoklassniki.