Beggars of Life (1928) - with Louise Brooks

Beggars of Life (1928) - with Louise Brooks, Wichita’s Silent Mega-Star Beggars of Life (1928) is quite remarkable for its vivid portrayal of hobo life in a pre-Depression America and for the opening sequence of Louise Brooks under attack from her guardian who tries to rape her. After killing her treacherous caretaker, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of hobos, and steal a car in their attempt to escape the police, and reach Canada. Beggars of Life presents a beautifully photographed portrait that is tough, gritty, realistic, and also a touching story that goes against the norm, especially in the context of 1920’s cinema. Louise Brooks is a film legend, and rightly so. This film is regarded as Brooks’s best American movie. Part fairy tale, part picaresque, part documentary, Beggars of Life features actual hobos in bit parts and a story co-written by the hobo memoirist, Jim Tully, but its strongest points emerge fro