Ranson's Folly
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Richard Ridgley
Marc Macdermott
Mabel Trunnelle
Marjorie Ellison
Edward Earle
Joseph Bingham
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After a cocaine addict dies in his Bowery saloon, Patrick Cahill leaves for the West with his daughter Mary, fresh from a convent school. Lieutenant Ranson, bored with Washington, D.C. society after fighting in the Philippines, goes to Fort Stanton, Texas where Cahill has become the post trader. Upon his arrival, Ranson helps put out a raging prairie fire and rescues Mary. Although Ranson falls in love with her, she considers herself not his social equal. Tired of army tedium, Ranson regales his fellow soldiers with tales of his exploits in the Philippines. Upon hearing about the stagecoach bandit, "The Red Rider," Ranson wagers that he can rob the stage with a pair of shears. This Ranson does, bringing back a few trinkets as proof, but after it is learned that the paymaster was robbed and his driver killed, Ranson is arrested. After Mary visits and accepts Ranson's proposal, Cahill kills himself and leaves a note in which he confesses to the crime and asks that Mary not be told that he became The Red Rider to pay for her education.
Director
Richard Ridgley
Cast
Marc Macdermott
Mabel Trunnelle
Marjorie Ellison
Edward Earle
Joseph Bingham
Gladys Leslie
Jessie Stevens
James Harris
George A. Wright
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Robert Edeson, Jane Rivers and Harrison Ford appeared in the play. The copyright entry for the film refers to it as "a revival of the Edison drama based on the story by Richard Harding Davis." Edison Mfg. Co. produced a two-reel adaptation of Davis's play in 1910, starring William J. Sorelle. In 1926, another adaptation, produced by Inspiration Pictures, Inc. and distributed by First National Pictures, was released, directed by Sidney Olcott and starring Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Mackaill and Anders Randolf. (See AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.4465.)
