Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Fred Hibbard
Writer: Fred Hibbard
Stars: Lloyd Hamilton, Babe
London and Dorothy Seastrom
Release Date: 21 September 1924
(USA)
Production Co: Lloyd Hamilton
Corporation
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Short | Comedy
This two-reeler is one of several
Lloyd Hamilton comedies recently restored and made available on DVD as part of
a set called "Ham: The Lost Magic of Lloyd Hamilton." JONAH JONES is
one of the better films in the set, although its impact is slightly diminished
by a chunk of missing footage at the beginning of Reel Two that renders the
plot a little confusing and, worse, wrecks one of Ham's sight gags. Still,
there's plenty here to enjoy, and for those who've never seen this neglected
comic at work the film presents him in his characteristic role, i.e. that of
the well-meaning schnook who can't get a break and almost never wins.
Set in the bucolic countryside, the opening sequence
introduces Ham and his girlfriend Babe London as "the hired man and his
three acres of love." (Miss London, best remembered as Oliver Hardy's
hefty fiancée in OUR WIFE, made a career out of serving as the butt of jokes
about her weight.) After a number of gags about cars, cows, and accidentally
swallowed cigarettes, the plot proper gets under way when Ham encounters an
attractive, prosperous-looking young lady who is having car trouble. After
gallantly fixing her flat tire he leans against a nearby fence and waves her on
with an insouciant, even cocky grin; moments later, the young lady crashes
through the gate and dumps Ham into a mud puddle. This gag sums up Ham's comic
Modus Operandi in a nutshell: even when the guy wins, he loses. But when he
realizes that the young lady has left her purse behind with her address inside
he sets out to return it, no doubt hoping for a reward, either monetary or
romantic.
