For me, this, Chaplin's final short, is also his finest. It has a good 'vibe' & everyone seems 'in the groove' from the word go. It also has excellent picture quality & even the best music score (composed by the man himself). Much has been made in previous reviews of the 2nd half (Chaplin 'on the town') failing to match the standard of the 1st (at work). True, the humour is different, but then it features Charlie relaxing after a day's work, &, in fact, provides a nice contrast to the hectic activity of earlier. And there are many funny moments contained therein - the two men putting on their coats haphazardly, Charlie missing the first two trolley-cars, then clambering desperately over the queue to ensure he is first on the next one, only to get squeezed out the other end (predictably, I suppose, but brilliantly done), mistaking the pie-stall for another trolley-car, trying to pretend to his wife he's up & ready for work when, in fact, he has just arrived home, etc. Just a mention for 'heavy' Mack Swain: I think he's more effective (if almost unrecognisable) as the mean, unsmiling foreman - without the moustache & eye make-up - than when he hams it up (as in 'The Movie Star', for example), though he's good in that, too.
Review of Pay Day
