Beggars of Life

By Thomas Gladysz

Subjects: movie, film, Hollywood, silent film

Description: This first ever study of "*Beggars of Life*" looks at the film Oscar-winning director William Wellman thought his finest silent movie. Based on Jim Tully’s bestselling book of hobo life—and filmed by Wellman the year after he made "*Wings*" (the first film to win the Best Picture Oscar), "*Beggars of Life*" is a riveting drama about an orphan girl (screen legend Louise Brooks) who kills her abusive stepfather and flees the law. She meets a boy tramp (leading man Richard Arlen), and together they ride the rails through a dangerous hobo underground ruled over by Oklahoma Red (future Oscar winner Wallace Beery). "*Beggars of Life*" showcases Brooks in her best American silent—a film the "*Cleveland Plain Dealer*" described as “a raw, sometimes bleeding slice of life.” With more than 50 little seen images, and a foreword by William Wellman, Jr.