Charlie Chaplin (1951)

two minor comedies 159 used in the interiors. Night scenes, such as the rain and the trolley-car sequences, were photographed at night with the aid of rather skillful artificial lighting. The sets are designed with an almost stylized simplicity. Some of the key action turns, as with the escalator in "The Floorwalker" and the recalcitrant Ford in "A Day's Pleasure," on the workings of a blind mechanical force, in this case an unpredictable elevator and inaccessible street cars. Much of the action gains point as illustrations of life's little ironies. The accent is on comedy but frustrations are the normal course as the tough foreman and his haughty daughter, the workman's own menacing wife, and even the elusive street cars keep him from fulfillments, great and small. "Pay Day" was accorded a rather tepid reception here and Chaplin himself was quoted as saying that he did not consider it the equal of "The Immigrant." Some French critics, however, consider it one of his best. "Pay Day's" opening title, "Hard Shirking Men," is followed by a scene of laborers on a building construction. Charlie, late for work, makes his entrance with a lily in his hand, with which he tries to pacify the tough foreman, like a schoolboy making up to a teacher. The first swing of his pick loosens a workman in a trench. When he feebly digs dirt by the ounce, the exasperated foreman transfers him to a high scaffold for bricklaying, which appears to be his natural forte for (with the help of a speeded up and reverse-action camera) he juggles and lays the bricks with such speed and dexterity that they cannot be tossed up to him fast enough. The foreman's pretty daughter, who brings her father's lunch, has won Charlie's admiration. He rides up the little elevator to adore her shyly; when she notices him he goes down. One soulful upward look toward her is diverted by strong cheese set near his nose and he hur