I recently bought Splinter Cell and I'm wondering if there is any solution to the cutscenes/FMVs not appearing. The screen just goes black and you can only hear the audio. I've tried setting it in compatibility mode as well as forcing vsync, the only two solutions I've found online which don't work for me at all.

Most probably a missing codec.
Get CCCP and see if the problem persists.

I might be using it wrong, but it didn't seem to do anything.

I have the same problem.

This is the problem I have with gog games. Sure they are old and stuff, but if they don't work properly, consumers will stick to steam.

This is why I am reluctant to buy any game on gog that was made before the year 2001. A lot of them are not compatible with newer systems like Windows 8.

I actually own older games than Splinter Cell on here and they work fine, but for some reason the cutscenes just won't show up properly. I only paid a couple bucks but I'd at least like to play the game in its entirety.

I don't have Splinter Cell in my collection, but sometimes experiencing similar problems with other games. If you're using ffdshow, try adding game executable to exclusion list and see if this helps.

Well when I run the game in windowed mode the cutscenes play just fine. I had similar issues with the KotOR games. The cutscenes would often just crash the game entirely, but if you play the game in windowed mode they work. But even so, sometimes the cutscenes would play in fullscreen mode, but with Splinter Cell it doesn't work no matter what.