Hot or Cold

In the 1910s, Al St. John had a steady career playing foils in Fatty Arbuckle's films (Arbuckle was his uncle). After Arbuckle's fall from grace, St. John continued making shorts into the sound era and was often the star. After these roles dried up, St. John became a B-western sidekick. As a result, he racked up nearly 350 film credits! "Hot or Cold" is one of his starring comedy shorts.

Central College and Union University have been bitter rivals for some time. In order to patch things up between them, the leaders of both schools have arranged a dinner where they can all get together and be friends. Unfortunately, Al is a clod and ends up doing his accidental best to keep the schools feuding.

The copy of this film I found on YouTube is in very rough shape. It's rather blurry and dark. Also occasionally, you see tears in the film and it's pretty noticeable. Still, it is in watchable condition, though I found the new musical score posted with it was annoying....so I recommend you turn down your television volume if you watch it.

So is it worth your time? Perhaps. I must admit that the film has a rather slim plot and isn't among St. John's funnier shorts (of the films I've seen, "Bridge Wives" is his best solo effort). Mostly it consists of St. John acting like a clod and folks throwing stuff at each other....not exactly deep stuff. Enjoyable but far from great.

Two rival colleges bury the hatchet and hold a dinner in celebration. This doesn't stop Al St. John and Harold Goodwin from trying to annoy each other, and the audience as well.

It's an adequate but uninspired late silent comedy short from the usually reliable Jack White unit, mostly because of the largely mechanical nature of the gags. It does have a great snowball fight at the end, in which all the techniques of pie-fighting are transferred to a different medium. I won't say it saves the picture, but after the first half, it's a welcome sequence.