Movies by William E. Shay
The Fall of the Romanoffs
The overthrow of Czar Nicholas II in Russia was such big news that the then-fledgling art of cinema couldn't help but jump on it immediately and create a couple of dramatizations.
The Soul of Broadway
Grace Leonard, a typical woman of the New York stage, beautiful but old in sin, seduces William Craig, who becomes a thief in order to shower luxuries upon her. He is sentenced to prison and emerges five years later as a sad-faced, gray-haired man, entirely cured of his mad passion for La Valencia. But she sees him and her old passion is stirred, meaning nothing to her that since his release from prison, he has fallen in love and married a good woman who knows nothing of his past. When William is not swayed by her fascinations, Grace threate...
Neptune's Daughter
The daughter of King Neptune takes on human form to avenge the death of her young sister, who was caught in a fishing net. However, she falls in love with the king, the man she holds responsible.
The Telephone Girl
Telephone operator Kitty O'Brien can't help but get involved in the problems of her customers. Right now she is concerning herself with the well-being of Tom Blake, the honest son of crooked political boss Jim Blake.
Sin
Italian peasant girl deserts her fiancé for wealthy gangster and departs for America.
The Clemenceau Case
This was Theda Bara's third starring film, and the first which she carried all on her own, with no other name actors in the cast. Based on the Alexander Dumas story, The Clemenceau Case involves Iza, a vampire-wife (Bara), whose wicked ways scandalize her husband, Pierre (William E. Shay).
The Two Orphans
This picture is based on the same story that became D.W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm in 1921. This version, made by the Fox Studios, stars famous "vamp" actress Theda Bara in the role that Lillian Gish later made famous
The Eternal Sin
Gennaro, the son of Lucretia Borgia, lives unaware of the identity of his mother, who has married the Duke of Ferrara. After Lucretia's brother is killed by five conspirators, the fathers of Gennaro's dearest friends, Lucretia tortures the old men to death. Later, Gennaro and his companions journey to Lucretia's domain, and she sees her son for the first time. The Duke, who believes him to be her lover, poisons him, but Lucretia administers the antidote in time and saves his life. Then she schemes to poison her sons' five friends for their f...
Kreutzer Sonata
Based -- loosely -- on Leo Tolstoy, this film starred feted stage star Nance O'Neil but is rather better remembered as Theda Bara's follow-up to the sensational A Fool There Was (1914).