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 diminished by a chunk of missing footage at the beginning of the second reel 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.
Unfortunately, this is where the damaged footage hits and we're left to piece together an important element of the plot. It appears that the young lady's wealthy father, Mr. Morgan, is forcing her to marry an exceptionally unsightly aristocrat, Sir Algernon Wellington FitzHugh, described as "master of horses to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and Saturday Knight of the Bath." Sir Algernon is played by Dick Sutherland, unforgettable as the criminal tramp in Harold Lloyd's Grandma's Boy, whose casting here as a haughty, upper-class snob must have been something of an inside joke. In any event, Ham quickly recognizes that Miss Morgan is a damsel in distress and makes a determined but inept attempt to rescue her, despite the unwelcome and decidedly unhelpful assistance of his girlfriend Babe.
Like so many silent comedies, Jonah Jones culminates in a wild chase; this particular mêlée is highlighted by a nicely staged gag involving Ham's trademark cloth cap getting shot off his head by the angry Mr. Morgan. Aghast, Ham chases the cap down the street, right off a cliff and into the ocean. Although he never quite made it into the top tier of screen comedians, anyone who watches this pleasant short comedy will have to admit that Lloyd Hamilton worked hard for his paycheck.
