Hidden Genre Gems for Fans of Rip Van Winkle: Cult Guide

Dir: Ward Lascelle

Comic short in which all the action is performed by legs and feet.

Dir: George D. Baker

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Buried Treasure perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

Strung around the idea of reincarnation, this film goes back in time to the days of the Spanish galleons and pirates burying their treasure; treasure to be found centuries later.

Dir: Cecil M. Hepworth

A soldier's tunic button, made from Aladdin's lamp, grants his wishes.

Dir: Charles Swickard

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Alf's Button perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

A young Egyptian goes to the rescue of his employers, a wealthy European family, when they are menaced by a local strongman and his gang.

Dir: Joe May

The unfaithful wife of a cruel Indian prince attempts to escape from his domination.

Dir: Gustav Adolf Olsen

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of An Arabian Knight perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

In the most beautiful Telemark a young boy grown up on a rich farm wanting to be a fiddle player like the son at the poorer neighboring farm, to his father's dislike. One day the father is found dead.

Dir: Emmett J. Flynn

In 1921, a young man, having read Mark Twain's classic novel of the same title, dreams that he himself travels to King Arthur's court, where he has similar adventures and outwits his foes by means of very modern inventions including motorcycles and nitroglycerine.

Dir: Fritz Lang

A visual fragment from the archive: The thematic resonance of Mysteries of India, Part I: Truth perfectly mirrors the editorial trajectory of our deep dive.

When a woman's fiancé disappears, Death gives her three chances to save him from his fate.

Dir: Joe May

A fascinating piece of cinema that shares thematic elements.

Dir: Jan S. Kolár

Richard Bor brings his neighbor, the landowner Drazicky, an old book. The latter tries in vain to persuade his wife Dagmar to leave. In the book Drazicky finds the story of the Mystery of the Black Tower and he falls asleep. He goes into the tower and finds an alchemist's laboratory and the body of a man holding instructions describing how he can be revived. Drazicky successfully carries out the experiment and finds out that the man is his ancestor Jesek Drazicky who lived during the time of Rudolf II. He had become the apprentice of the alchemist Borro who had entrusted him with the mystery of the elixir of life.