I mendicanti della vita

and this film proves it. Beggars of Life is a gritty tale set against some beautiful images in the way that Sunrise or Days of Heaven used visual imagery. There are some stunning scenes and great camera work. William Wellman directs. Brooks stars as a girl on the run with a man she meets (Richard Arlen). The picaresque tale takes them west as they try to get to Canada. They run into a hobo camp where Oklahoma Red (Wallace Beery) takes control of their destinies. Great performances by the stars. The camera work on the trains is great, and the stars do their own stunt work. Brooks was always a difficult star, and she paid the price by losing her Hollywood career. Too bad. This 1928 silent shows she had real talent. Although she gets 3rd billing, she is the center of this remarkably adult film about sin, love, lust, honor, and hope. Beery is good, but Arlen is wonderful in his "big brother" role. Roscoe Karns and Guinn Williams (familiar faces in 30s films) co-star. But Louise Brooks is the reason to see this, her best American film, especially if you've seen her German films with Pabst. A must!

Handsome hobo Richard Arlen (as Jim) is hungry. Smelling breakfast as he passes by a home, Mr. Arlen ventures inside to beg for food. Arlen is startled to discover the body of a dead man, as beautiful Louise Brooks (as Nancy) descends her stairway to explain. Tired of waiting on the pawing man, Ms. Brooks shot her sexually abusive guardian. Believing Brooks story (and taken by her beauty), Arlen invites her to accompany him east. They hop a freight train with Brooks disguised as a boy, to deter the police. Love blooms when the two share a bed made in hay. Arlen's "leg-locking" and Brooks' look of approval are part of these actors' well-played scene. With the police on their trail, Arlen and Brooks fall in with a group of hobos.

Brooks' disguise as Arlen's "kid brother" only lasts so long, and she is discovered as a girl. This arouses the interest of boozy tramp leader Wallace Berry (as Okalahoma Red). When their gang of hobos hitches a ride on another train, Mr. Berry wants to throw Arlen overboard and rape Brooks. Berry's swaggering introduction, with a keg of ale for the hobos, is a jolt - as we hear his voice in a "synchronized sound effected" film. Berry, who is billed over Arlen and Brooks, quickly becomes a major character. His change during the last act becomes one of the film's problems. Still, this is still a fine-looking production (despite the prints available).

You get "Wings" director William A. Wellman with one of his greatest stars (Arlen), a fine new actress (Brooks), and one of the movies' most popular character players (Berry). And, hang on tight for some exciting train sequences.

******** Beggars of Life (9/22/28) William A. Wellman ~ Richard Arlen, Louise Brooks, Wallace Berry, Edgar Washington

"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.

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.

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.