Pay Day (1922/I)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Charles Chaplin

Writer:

Charles Chaplin (writer)

Release Date:

2 April 1922 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

Charlie is an expert bricklayer. He has lots of fun and work and enjoys himself greatly while at the saloon...

Plot Keywords:

Saloon | Bricklayer | Henpecked Husband | Music Score Composed By Director | Brick

Cast

Charles Chaplin	...	Laborer
Phyllis Allen	...	His Wife
Mack Swain	...	Foreman
Edna Purviance	...	Foreman's Daughter
Syd Chaplin	...	Charlie's Friend and Lunch Cart Owner
Albert Austin	...	Workman
John Rand	...	Workman
Loyal Underwood	...	Workman
Henry Bergman	...	Drinking Companion
Al Ernest Garcia	...	Drinking Companion and Policeman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edith Blythe	...	Extra (uncredited)
Virginia Bodle	...	Extra (uncredited)
Ethel Childers	...	Extra (uncredited)
Joe Griffin	...	Extra (uncredited)
Pete Griffin	...	Extra (uncredited)
Helen Kapp	...	Extra (uncredited)
Sylvia Menier	...	Extra (uncredited)
La Belle Raymond	...	Extra (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Extra (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Chaplin

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Charles Chaplin		writer

Produced by
Charles Chaplin	....	producer

Cinematography by
Roland Totheroh

Film Editing by
Charles Chaplin		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Charles D. Hall

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles Reisner	....	assistant director

Camera and Electrical Department
Jack Wilson	....	second camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Mother Vinot	....	seamstress (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Toraichi Kono	....	driver: Mr. Chaplin (uncredited)

Other crew
Nellie Bly Baker	....	secretary: Mr. Chaplin (uncredited)
Elsie Codd	....	unit publicist (uncredited)
Tom Harrington	....	assistant: Mr. Chaplin (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Charles Chaplin Productions

Distributors

• First National Pictures (1922) (USA) (theatrical)
• MK2 Diffusion (2001) (worldwide) (all media)
• Fox Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Koch Vision (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (USA) (all media)

Runtime:

28 min | USA:21 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) (re-issue) | Silent

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Chaplin Studios - 1416 N. La Brea Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Charles Chaplin Productions

Trivia:

Reportedly Charles Chaplin's favorite among his own short films.

Quotes:

Foreman: [the Laborer's digging up tiny bunches of dirt] You're working by the hour, not the ounce!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Chaplin Today: The Kid (2003) (TV)

Chaplin's best short

This was the last of Chaplin's shorts and, for the first half at least, it bids fair to be his best. The first ten minutes are simply a succession of side-splitting set-pieces that show the comedian at his most inventive. Only Chaplin could make digging a hole funny. The sequence with the workmen's lift on the building site at which Chaplin works – he abandons the tramp persona while retaining the baggy outfit – is a master-class in split second comic timing, and the brick-throwing spectacle is a truly astonishing piece of work that requires repeated viewings – it's not so much the manner in which it's filmed but the seamless fashion in which the trickery is performed that amazes the first-time viewer even today.

The quality drops a little in the second half, which is hardly surprising given the near-perfection of the first reel, but Chaplin still manages to provide a number of laugh-out-loud moments. Playing a drunk might seem a cheap way of getting a laugh, but nobody could ever play a drunk as adroitly as Chaplin.

Watch and savour every moment of this classic.