Clevercell Very disappointing...

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

MissyH316 So many now-classic (and later oft-duplicated) comedy scenes and scenarios that still hold up so well nearly 90 years later!! Some reviewers have said the plot in this one wasn't so much, but *I* think plot wasn't the focus - I think it was mostly just all-out for laughs and I got plenty of them!My review title, "Just For Fun", sums up how and why Chaplin made this film as he did, in my opinion. He could totally do whatever the heck he wanted as long as he had a film to fulfill his obligation to First National. His movies had already become "HIS" movies in every sense of the word, far from any days when he had to worry about one bad performance costing him basic room & board. Plus by this time, I'm sure he was more than confident that he knew how to please his comedy fans so he just let the gags run full throttle on "enjoy"! Finally, there was one little bit of comedy I hadn't seen anyone else mention thus far. When the boys are all standing outside the speakeasy, at one point Charlie's "standing" (lol) with the help of his cane, unaware that his back is to a ground-level metal grate. But like the elevator, his timing (and luck!) was with him as he managed to twirl the cane several times to have its point land ON the grate! UN-like the elevator, though, his luck runs out and the cane lands in one of the grate holes and takes him down with it! All in all, a grate -- er, I mean, a GREAT work and a fitting end to Chaplin's short film repertoire. ;-)

Tommy Nelson Charlie Chaplin's short film "Pay Day" is obviously a silent film, so it has to rely completely on slapstick for it's comedy. There are a few written words, but those aren't overly amusing. The sight gags are simple, but amusing and well executed, and despite a lack of plot after the beginning, this is still a decent and amusing way to spend 30 minutes.A worker (Charlie Chaplin) is excited for his pay day. But first he has to go through one more day of work, with the angry foreman. And as angry as the foreman is, he's no where near as angry as the worker's wife. She takes all of the her husband's money from work, and he has to sneak some to go out for the night. So the worker goes out on the town for a night and goes through several gags that end with his wife figuring out he took some of his money back.Charlie plays a goofy character here. He's amusing, and over the top and silly. All this short is, is Charlie going through several different scenes and making mistakes. It's hard to review this, as it really didn't have much content, but it was thoroughly amusing. One thing that was strange about it was how mean this guy's wife is. She's obviously the antagonist and the set-up for the entire second half of the film, but geez, she takes all of her husbands money each week, and she doesn't let him keep anything to eat with. He really should've divorced that woman.Some scenes that are particularly well done are a trolley scene, and the bricklaying scene. The bricklaying scene at the beginning is a very well directed cause and effect scene where the work elevator goes up and down, causing people's food to be eaten on a different floor, and lots of mischief. The trolley scene features Charlie trying to get a ride, but the overcrowded car is hard to get in to. It's a very well done scene and it's a really great scene for slapstick comedy, and seems to be inspiration for future film scenes.This Chaplin short didn't set the world on fire. It's an amusing little short with a lot of gags. It's a fun watch, but that's about it.My rating: *** out of ****. 30 mins.

MartynGryphon Given that this was Chaplin's last ever movie short, he couldn't have ended this stage of his career on better from, as this movie is a triumph in every way and is widely regarded as one of Chaplin's best, (a view shared by Chaplin himself who, in his twilight years, named Pay Day as the favourite of all his short films made between 1914 and 1922.I find that when reviewing shorts such as this,it's most important that you don't rattle on longer than the movie itself, so I'll make this as brief as I can.Chaplin plays a labourer on a building sight who after an hilarious day on the job, gets paid , gives his rolling pin wielding wife the slip and goes for a night on the town.Sweet Edna Purviance plays the foreman's daughter and gives another one of her adorable performances, but it's such a shame that she's not given more to do.I cannot end the review without mention to the brilliant, yet simple, brick throwing scene, where it appears that the workers on the ground are chucking bricks up to Charlie on the scaffold, where he is gracefully catching them and stocking them for use. We all know that the film is being run backwards, but in 1922, this scene must have had the convulsed audience throwing their pop corn all over the theatre such was it's originality, as that was my very reaction when I first saw the sequence.My other favourite moment is just after Charlie and his drinking buddies leave the saloon, (or speakeasy as it must have been, as the movie was actually made during prohibition). When putting on his overcoat, Charlie puts his right arm in his own coat, put manages to find his left arm in the right arm sleeve of the coat belonging to the gentleman standing behind him and proceeds to get dragged down the street while the other man remains completely ignorant of his new Charlie papoose.I have seen about 40 of all the 50 Chaplin shorts made, and can say with confidence that with the exception of perhaps 'One AM'(1916) and 'Shoulder Arms' (1918), none of them even come close to Pay Day.Enjoy!

MartinHafer This film has some highly imaginative and well-timed stunts--all revolving around Charlie's job at a construction site. All the near-falls and accidents remind me of Sweet Pea from POPEYE cartoons--as the baby is nearly killed again and again but miraculously escapes. In Chaplin's case, it involved a funny sequence when he ALMOST falls down an elevator many times, dropping objects accidentally on those below and a really interesting sight gag involving guys throwing bricks up to Charlie who catches this with complete ease (it was done by running the film backwards). Later, Charlie's hideous and scary wife is introduced and it goes from a work comedy to a domestic one. In a way, this was a minor disappointment, as I preferred the faster paced work stunts, but all-in-all this is a funny and well executed short.