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Silent Jim
(1912) United States of America
B&W : Two reels
Directed by (unknown)
Cast: Alec B. Francis [Silent Jim], Barbara Tennant [Jacqueline], Lamar Johnstone [Sergeant of the RCMP], Robert Frazer [Black Baptiste], Will E. Sheerer [Captain of the RCMP], W.A. Kelley [Lieutenant of the RCMP], George Larkin [Jackphine, Ione Indian], Muriel Ostriche [White Wing, Indian maiden], Mathilde Baring
[?] Eclair American? production; distributed by The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated. / Released 5 November 1912. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Northwoods.
Synopsis: [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? “Silent Jim” was a trapper of the Northwest. Periodically he sought out a trading post, that he might exchange his furs for supplies. He never talked. On one of these visits the men sitting about the post chaffed him on his silence. He had refused liquor. Suddenly the trapper faced the men around the long wooden tables, police, trappers and idlers. “I came here from England to become a man,” he told his hearers. “I, too, wore the uniform; they said I disgraced it. They took it away. I lost it because I loved a girl. I love her still.” The scene dissolves. Jim is shown as a young man in the garb of the city. He meets Jacqueline and falls in love. There is a rival, a handsome half-breed, with a winning smile and a “way with the women.” Baptiste brings to Jacqueline presents of handsome furs. There is no misunderstanding between the men; there is a very definite understanding. Jim receives his appointment to the Mounted and is congratulated by his friends. Scarcely has he received his equipment than he is ordered to bring in a murderer. He has seen two men struggling on a cliff. He finds the body of one at the base. Also he catches a glimpse of a fugitive. It is Baptiste. Jim follows the half-breed, right to the cabin of Jacqueline. The mounted man wastes no words. He takes Jacqueline from in front of a closet door and shoots through it. He pulls back the door. His quarry is not there. Baptiste has escaped as the door was opened. The closet had no wall on one side. Jim goes in pursuit. He is lured to quicksands, in which he sinks to his waist. Baptiste comes back to him and taunts him and invites him to shoot. Jim throws his pistol at him. Baptiste picks up the weapon and leaves Jim to his fate. Night falls. Jacqueline is asleep. The rays of the moon strike through the window and fall on her face. Baptiste has worried over the mounted man caught in the mire and determines to save him. With the aid of a pole he pulls the now unconscious Jim from the water, puts him on his back and starts for the cabin of Jacqueline. In the meantime the troopers have received instructions to bring in Baptiste, dead or alive, the daughter of the half-breed’s Indian victim having brought in word of her father’s murder. Baptiste takes Jim to the girl’s cabin. Jacqueline is aroused and Jim is thrown on the bed under the window. Baptiste hears the approach of the troops and steps out. As he is making his escape he is discovered by the sergeant. The officer follows and is just about to shoot the fugitive, when Jacqueline picks up a gun and rushes to the window. Jim is now conscious and sits up. He sees the girl taking aim at his sergeant. He sees the sergeant aiming at the man who had drawn him from the mire. Jim takes the weapon from the girl. As the sergeant raises his pistol his arm drops. He has been shot in the hand. Other officers rush into the house. The rifle is in Jim’s hand. The sergeant enters wounded. Jim is stripped of his equipment. Baptiste escapes. He returns for Jacqueline. Jim finds her ready to depart; he knows with whom she is going. There is a strong scene as the unsuccessful rival takes Jacqueline in his arms and kisses her. The girl is in doubt. She does not resist. It is love for one, pity for the other who saved “the” one, saved him for her. There is a twilight picture on a rocky summit. By the side of a campfire the outlaw stands with the girl he has won. The scene dissolves. “That’s my story, boys,” says Jim, simply. A gray-mustached trooper goes over to him and shows him a scar on his hand. It is the sergeant. They shake hands. Quietly Jim takes up his gun and departs. The eyes of all follow him. As we bid good-bye to Jim he is kneeling on a hillside. He reaches into his kit and draws out a bit of hair-ribbon, a relic he had found in Jacqueline’s deserted cabin which he had preserved for twenty years.
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Listing updated: 27 March 2020.
References: ClasIm-221 p. 53; ClasIm-225 p. 43 : Website-IMDb.
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