William V. Ranous Movies

A traveler stays the night at a rural inn, but gets no rest as he is tormented by various spectres and mysterious happenings.

An early film adaptation of the Bard's comic fantasy-- and perhaps the first screen adaptation of a Shakespeare play.

To start a little in advance of our story, Lord Rintoul, of the English nobility, finds a little Gypsy girl three years old, who had been deserted by...

Vitagraph production of Shakespeare's Richard III.

It is sometimes decidedly difficult to get a little privacy on shipboard. Several times Jack Hardy almost reaches the proposal point with Marion Van...

A silent short film telling the classic story of Becky Sharp.

Becoming impatient waiting for patients, young Doctor Bob Lyons is about discouraged. To add to his misery, his sweetheart's father, Mr. Irving,...

Biographical drama, adaptation of Shakespeare's play.

An impressively tactile, if slightly over-ambitious, adaptation of King Lear from Vitagraph Studios.

No matter how absorbed with affairs of state, Abraham Lincoln was always ready to give audience to his little son Tad. Little Tad, playing at the...

Agnes Vernon is the daughter of an old prospector whose hard luck leads him to turn holdup. The father is hanged and the girl, unknowing the real...

Just as the bead clerk and his assistants are closing up the jewelry store for the day, a package containing a very costly necklace arrives by...

Francesca, surrounded by ladies-in-waiting at the palace. Her father enters, and together they read a letter from Lanciotto, asking for the hand of...

Much ado about a necklace - short film based on the story "The String of Pearls"

In this Vitagraph short, anarchism threatens to ruin lives and families. Luigi and Rosa are a couple with an adorable child, but trouble is afoot...

Macbeth usurps the Scottish throne by murdering his predecessor.

Emphatically opposed to Jack Moss, old Mr. McGillicuddy puts the ban on his marriage to his daughter Dolly. The old gentleman is adamant to the...

Alixe is courted by many admirers. Her most persistent companion is Morton Shaw. Arlington Tappan also loves Alixe, and urges her to give up her...