Pay Day (1922/I)

Synopsis [spoilers]: Charlie finds work as a brick layer. He stands on a scaffold while his co-workers throw bricks to him from the ground at an amazing speed, which he catches and lays on a pile. At lunch hour, he doesn't have anything to eat, but the elevator keeps bringing him other people's food. He gets payed but must give almost everything to his virago wife (I borrowed the expression from the DVD's introductory documentary); he goes to a "Bachelor's Club" and gets drunk. He has an enormous difficulty to catch the tram home. Upon arriving at his apartment, he sneaks in without making a sound so as not to awake his wife. The place is crowded with cats, who have eaten all the food and steal his salami to boot (note: he got this salami in an interesting way: he entered the merchant's barrack thinking it was the tram, and held onto the salami as it were the tram's handle for standing passengers). He sleeps in the bathtub. On his way out, he is about to collect some coins he had hidden under the doormat, but is caught by his wife, who scolds him severely.

Appraisal: Delightful little film, full of charm and inventivity. I have to see it again though, for the finer details. Note: I have seen the version with 21:06 min of length, which is included in the DVD box "The ChaplinRevue".

Rating: 70