Beggars of Life (1928)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Benjamin Glazer (adaptation)
Jim Tully (story)

Release Date:

22 September 1928 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Plot:

After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Based On Novel

Cast

Wallace Beery	...	Oklahoma Red
Louise Brooks	...	The Girl (Nancy)
Richard Arlen	...	The Boy (Jim)
Blue Washington	...	Black Mose (as Edgar Washington Blue)
Kewpie Morgan	...	Skinny (as H.A. Morgan)
Andy Clark	...	Skelly
Mike Donlin	...	Bill
Roscoe Karns	...	Lame Hoppy
Bob Perry	...	The Arkansaw Snake (as Robert Perry)
Johnnie Morris	...	Rubin
George Kotsonaros	...	Baldy
Jack Chapin	...	Ukie (as Jacques Chapin)
Robert Brower	...	Blind Sims
Frank Brownlee	...	Farmer

Runtime:

100 min | USA:84 min (sound version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (MovieTone) (talking sequences and musical score) | Silent

Filming Locations:

San Diego, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation

Trivia:

To give the film authenticity, actual hobos - homeless, unemployed men - were employed as extras during the production.

Quotes:

The Boy: Ain't it funny when you think of the millions o' people in warm houses and feather beds, an' us just driftin' 'round like the clouds? But I guess it's about even when you boil it down. Even them people in feather beds ain't satisfied - we're all beggars of life.

Movie Connections:

References The Sheik (1921)

Beggars of Life

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.