Beggars of Life

I write to amend this earlier complaint about an earlier print from Grapevine (see below). The newest release - 2015 - is much improved. Although a few parts seem to be from a 16mm reduction print (I'm no expert on this), most of the film is much easier to watch. It is brighter, correctly tinted and much sharper than the earlier film I had watched and reviewed here. Moreover, a completely new score by Jack Hardy matches the action on the screen and improves this release by 100%. While shopping, be sure to obtain this newest print released on January 16, 2015. EARLIER REVIEW: I finally obtained a copy of Beggars of Life having read and heard so much about it over the years. William Wellman does some remarkable things in this film including an interesting flashback technique superimposing a close-up of Louise Brooks as she relates details of the altercation with her adoptive guardian. Brooks is not quite at her Pandora's Box level, but she's close. Brooks' filmography is actually rather sparse. However this film coupled with Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl justify all the accolades she receives to this day. These films are true artistic achievements. In Beggars of Life, Wallace Beery is at his sleazy best as the hobo alpha-chimp who turns out to have a soft heart of gold and Richard Arlen, while maintaining his matinée idol good looks, is superb as he slips out of his boy-next-door persona. Roscoe ("Shapley's the name and that's how I like 'em") Karns and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams also have parts and each adds spice to the story. Unfortunately the only copy I could find was a VHS tape produced by Grapevine Video out of Arizona that appears to be dubbed off of a 16mm television print with music that has nothing to do with the story. I like Beery, Brooks and Arlen as well as Beethoven, but not in this particular mix. Grapevine Video even had the nerve to claim a copyright to the music!!! I am sure the film is in the public domain and I KNOW Beethoven is. As others have noted, a crisp DVD would be greatly appreciated. I understand a better print exists and that the Mont Alto Motion Picture orchestra accompanied the film at the SFSFF in 2008. Let's hope they get together and prepare a decent video release! It would be worth the effort as Beggars of Life is truly one of the great films of the late silent era and ranks, in my opinion, up there with The Crowd and Sunrise in its realism and with its fine performances.

This is an entertaining film containing passages of alarming sentimentality that are neutralised by frank brutality (the brutality being provided by the indomitable Oklahoma Red - Wallace Beery - a thug with a conscience, and the psychopathic Black Mose - Edgar Washington).

Louise Brooks does very well as an imp of promise escaping a sinister rapist, and Richard Arlen is effective as her practical-minded (but not overly intelligent) beau. In fact I think this is just about the only one of her American films where Brooks gets the opportunity to do some real acting. It is thought that this was one of the first films to pioneer the androgynous look. The other stock players add to the drama, and the cinematography is well done.

Although Beery gets top-billing we do not see him until the latter half of the picture. This is just as well, because he does enough scene-stealing to compensate for his absence in the first half.

Brooks did not care for William Wellman, who appears to have been a hard task-master, and as she remarked in her memoirs: 'I knew Billy was a phoney brave man and consequently a woman-beater - all cowards revenge themselves on women - just by feel, especially when my ass hit the pavement in "Beggars of Life"'. This might be a reference to her failed attempt to board a moving train where the viewer (for once) gets some idea of how difficult a task this is. Of course Wellman might have been a little harsh with her because she was fast acquiring a reputation as an actress who was difficult to handle.

Artfully photographed, dark and riveting silent film following the story of a handsome tramp (Richard Arlen) who has entered a house looking for work, finds a man slumped over at the table and discovers he has been shot to death. A young lady (Louise Brooks) appears at the top of the stairs dressed in male clothing - she admits she killed the man (he "adopted" her from the orphanage two years before - okey dokey), but reasons that she did it to protect herself from being raped. So - they run off together and hitch a ride on a rail car to get out of town. The two of them soon arrive at a side of the railyard hobo camp where they encounter one really hardened, bully of a hobo (Wallace Beery) who actually ends up helping them. When she is recognized by one of the hobos as being a woman, the bunch want to get her away from her fellow and have her for themselves - oh dear, that struck me as a pretty bad/scary situation for a female to find herself in (the looks on these men's faces as they stared in lust at this poor girl were enough to frighten anyone)! Later "Wanted" posters begin to appear on signposts, as they discover she is now wanted for murder with a $1,000 reward offered for her capture.

I found this to be a very interesting and enjoyable film, full of some beautifully photographed scenes - Brooks and Arlen in close-up as they hide out one night in a hay loft, Brooks falling from a train into a grassy field, a montage of images in the beginning showing the decadence of the girl's "father" as he paws and pursues her. The plot is, in a few ways, reminiscent of the early 40s comedy "Sullivan's Travels" - the female dressed in male clothing stealing rides on rail cars with a male friend/lover, the hobo camp, etc. Interestingly, I thought Louise Brooks looked even more beautiful dressed as a boy than when she puts on a dress! All in all, this is a visual treat and a highly entertaining film.

I wish for nothing more than a valid version of this great movie on DVD. It's been a while since I last saw it, but the impression has been a lasting one. True empathy lasts through the ages and there is a poignancy about 'Beggars of Life' that is phenomenal. All actors shine in career-defining roles, direction is sensible to minuscule moods, and the overall effect is overpowering. One of the best flicks to come out of Hollywood in those pre-talkie days. Can't wait to see it again.

"Beggars of Life" is (and I hate to use this word) awesome. Louise Brooks takes command of this photoplay right away and makes it her own. Watch her act with her facial expressions in the scene inside the haystack. Brooks' acting is very subtle and is quite effective. She is in good company with Richard Arlen, always a fine actor, and Wallace Beery, whose portrayal of the complex Oklahoma Red is excellent. The all-male supporting cast is also of high quality. This is a first rate cinematic event with a first rate actress and supporting cast. It is something modern day film audiences should not miss.