''Jack and Jill'' is a 1917 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

directed by

William Desmond Taylor William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, ...

and written by Gardner Hunting and

Margaret Turnbull Margaret Carol "Maggie" Turnbull (born 1975) is an American astronomer and astrobiologist. She received her PhD in Astronomy from the University of Arizona in 2004. Turnbull is an authority on star systems which may have habitable planets, sol ...

. The film stars

Jack Pickford John Charles Smith (August 18, 1896 – January 3, 1933), known professionally as Jack Pickford, was a Canadian-American actor, film director and producer. He was the younger brother of actresses Mary and Lottie Pickford. After their father d ...

Louise Huff Louise Huff (November 14, 1895 – August 22, 1973) was an American actress of the silent film era. Biography Huff was a descendant of former President of the United States, President James Knox Polk. She began her acting career at the age ...

, Leo Houck, Don Bailey, J.H. Holland, and

Jack Hoxie John Hartford Hoxie (January 11, 1885 – March 28, 1965) was an American rodeo performer and motion-picture actor whose career was most prominent in the silent film era of the 1910s through the 1930s. Hoxie is best recalled for his roles in ...

. The film was released on November 12, 1917, by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

Plot

As described in a film magazine, Jack (Pickford), an East Side New York

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

fighter, becomes the dupe in a frame-up fight in which he knocks out a champion and is led to believe that he killed the man. That night he goes to New Jersey and boards a

handcar A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, or draisine) is a railroad car powered by its passengers, or by people pushing the car from behind. It is mostly used as a railway ...

. The next day he finds himself in Texas where the cowboys decide to have a good time with the tenderfoot. Jill (Huff), his pal and sweetheart, gets the money due Jack for fighting and, when she hears from him, she, too, goes to Texas. She arrives at the ranch when the cowboys are away and the Mexicans are planning a raid. When Jack hears of her presence, he rushes to the ranch and arrives just in time to prevent the Mexicans from attacking it. He knocks out several Mexicans just as the cowboys, who were wondering why Jack was in such a hurry, arrive. The Mexicans are driven off and Jack is the hero of the hour. He is given a steady position at the ranch and he and Jill live on happily.

Cast

Preservation

With no prints of ''Jack and Jill'' located in any film archives,Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''Jack and Jill''
/ref> it is a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

References

External links

* *
The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: ''Jack and Jill''
{{William Desmond Taylor 1917 films 1910s English-language films 1917 Western (genre) films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by William Desmond Taylor American black-and-white films Lost American Western (genre) films 1917 lost films American boxing films Silent American Western (genre) films 1910s American films