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Charles Chaplin, Phyllis Allen, Mack Swain, Edna Purviance, Sidney Chaplin ... see more see more... , Henry Bergman , Allan Garcia , John Rand , Loyal Underwood , Albert Austin

Charlie Chaplin's last two reeler recalls earlier comedies such as the Essanay Work, with Chaplin casting himself as a worker rather than a Tramp, but the film shows great advances in film technique. ... read more read more...Chaplin is a construction worker, who arrives late for work, bringing a flower as peace offering for his boss, Mack Swain. As a ditch digger, Chaplin leaves something to be desired, but as a brick catcher, he's amazing, due to a very clever reverse action scene. Lunchtime brings Swain's daughter, Edna Purviance with his lunch and Chaplin seems smitten. He has no lunch, but is lucky enough to partake of some of his co-workers' food due to a very active work elevator, which they all seem to use as a sideboard. It's pay day and Chaplin argues about his wages, despite being overpaid. His battleaxe wife Phyllis Allen (in their first re-teaming since the Keystone days) shows up at the end of the workday to collect his wages, some of which he's able to retain despite her efforts.That night, Chaplin and his co-workers go drinking and are quite looped at the end of the evening - bellicose but songful. In a rare night time photography scene, Chaplin tries to catch the last streetcar home but is pushed out one end when huge Henry Bergman pushes his way on at the other. In his drunkenness Chaplin boards a hot dog cart, thinking it's another streetcar, holding onto a suspended salami as a hand strap. Arriving home at daybreak, Chaplin has just started undressing for bed when the alarm clock rings, waking the wife. Pretending to leave for work, he tries to settle down to sleep in the bathtub, but is caught and sent out to work by his nagging mate.Payday began life as Come Seven, a story about two rich plumbers. Production was interrupted by Chaplin's trip to Europe after only eight scenes were photographed. ~ Phil Posner, Rovi

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445 ratings

Unrated, 28 min.

Directed by: Charles Chaplin

Release Date: April 2, 1922

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Flixster Reviews (37)

  • kenstachnik
    March 23, 2008
    kenstachnik
    Fantastic 2 reeler by Chaplin. The brick gag is hilarious.
  • fb208103125
    April 23, 2012
    fb208103125
    "Pay Day" was one of my favorite Chaplin shorts, out of the 12 or so that I have viewed so far and it shows the skills and techniques that Chaplin was acquiring and mastering. Many of these are scene first in some smaller scale way in his shorts before being done on a grander sc... read moreale in his feature length films to come. One of the most clever and well done technique was the reverse action used to portray Chaplin being an expert brick catcher (Chaplin held the bricks and threw them towards the ground and this was played back to make it appear as if he caught every brick being thrown his way) and is one of many interesting tricks he used. The story itself has Chaplin as a construction worker instead of his Tramp character and his overbearing wife is apparently both that and his bank, she collects all (most thanks to Chaplin's slight of hand) his wages before he can barely step foot away from work. His co-workers and he go out for a night on the town and end up drunk and out all night and Chaplin is shown, in a rare nighttime scene, unsuccessfully trying to catch a ride home on a streetcar. He arrives just in time to get up for work and he tries to pretend to go to work and instead goes to sleep in the bathtub, or so he thinks until his wife catches on to him. This overall is both an amusing and well crafted two-reeler and really showcases Chaplin's growing skill as both actor and even more so, as Director.
  • Ivan6655321
    September 30, 2009
    Ivan6655321
    The funniest short that he has ever done, but what makes this only 4 stars in my scale is its too short for me to enjoy it more. Mack Swain, the Chaplin film commoner, is, as usual, hilarious in various roles, but this is the particular film that he really shined in.

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Pay Day Trivia

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