What Became of Jack and Jill?

I do not think that this film was released in the UK.It certainly has not made it out on DVD.It is a rather strange film.It takes an awful long time to get to its climax and when it does all you can think its"so what".In fact when the couple go into see the solicitor about the reading of the will you think ,rightly,from that moment on that everything is about to go downhill.It is difficult to know why the makers thought this film was worth making.It is not a horror film,it is not sexploitation it is not a mystery thriller,it is just a mess.One can only feel pity for dear old Mona Washbourne that she felt that she had to appear in this.Although only 69 when the film was made she looks absolutely dreadful.

A stupid druggy and his dumb drugged-up girlfriend wants to kill his grandmother for her house and money. They are irritating as they can be. It's really easy to feel bad for the grandmother who's seemingly stuck with her awful and evil grandson caring for her. It's one of those films concerning youthism, power to the youth and down with the "oldies" (as said in the film).

The movie had a couple of moments of being a little bit interesting but kept falling flat after the "moments" each time. It's slow, boring mainly and the two youths are irritating as all hell. Let's just say I was unimpressed with the film for the most part.

2/10

Although nowhere near as disturbing as Amicus thought, What Became of Jack and Jill is still pretty grim by the British standard of the day. The film would be a lot less without Vanessa Howard and not just for the obvious reasons, few actresses can play unhinged quite as well. Paul Nicholas is clearly doomed from the start as Johnnie and Mona Washbourne's Alice manages to be sympathetic without laying it on too thick. The whole thing looks drab beyond belief as if all the colour is slowing draining from the world, the Summer of Love isn't just over, it never happened.

What Became of Jack and Jill is an extremely rare British psycho chiller, and a rather good film to boot. The film takes on the idea of 'murder for profit' and mixes it with a family theme and the idea of lazy youngsters not wanting to get a job. I do have to admit that the copy I saw was sourced from a very old VHS and thus the quality was rather shabby; but in spite of that, it's still clear to see that Bill Bain's film is very well made and effective, despite not having the luxury of a big budget and star names on the cast list. The film actually has nothing to do with the classic nursery rhyme - and I'm not sure where the title comes from considering the male lead's name is 'Johnny'. Anyway, we focus on a young man living with his grandmother, who just happens to be sitting on a fortune. Naturally, the grandson wants to get his selfish mits on this fortune and so does his girlfriend; so the two hatch a plot to send the grandmother insane; leading to her death and leaving the pair free to spend all her money. However, things do not exactly go to plan.

The film is actually quite slow and the plot very relaxed in terms of it's plotting; but while the film is not particularly exciting, the slow plot does benefit it in that we get time to know the characters and the situation to ensure that the film is always intriguing. The acting is fairly decent too with the three central performers doing well in their roles. Paul Nicholas ('Blind Terror') convinces in his role as the grandchild that wants his grandmother out of the way so he can enjoy life, while Vanessa Howard (the biggest standout in Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly) is ice cold as his scheming girlfriend. Mona Washbourne ('Fragment of Fear') rounds off the central cast and gives the only likable character of the whole piece. The film is much better while there are three leads in it; after the death of the grandmother, there's some amusement in the aftermath but the rest of the film doesn't live up to the promise of what went before it. Still, What Became of Jack and Jill, while not a classic, is certainly an interesting little film and it's worth a look if you can find a copy.

This is one of those films almost no one living seems to have seen, yet remember. I only caught it once in '72 or '73 but found it great fun. An opportunistic young couple are after an elderly lady's money ... their plot & how they set it up is absorbing. This is a half-remembered movie, probably in line with the youth-oriented '70's American flicks like Three in the Attic and Wild in the Streets, which I would welcome enjoying again. It's not great, but it's very enjoyable "black humour".