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Beggars of Life is an American film directed by William Wellman and starring Wallace Beery and Richard Arlen as hobos, and Louise Brooks as a young woman who dresses as a young man and flees the law. The film is regarded as Brooks's best American movie.[1]

Beggars of Life
1928 lobby card
Directed by	William A. Wellman
Written by	Jim Tully (autobiography) Maxwell Anderson (play)
Produced by	Jesse L. Lasky Adolph Zukor
Starring	Wallace Beery Louise Brooks Richard Arlen
Cinematography	Henry W. Gerrard
Edited by	Alyson Shaffer
Music by	Karl Hajos
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	September 22, 1928
Running time	74 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The actress recounted her memories of working on the film in her essay, “On Location with Billy Wellman,” which is included in her 1982 book, Lulu in Hollywood.[2]

Beggars of Life was released as both a silent and sound film (the latter with added music, sound effects, and dialogue) in September 1928. The sound sequences, which included train noises and Beery singing a song, are now considered lost. This was Paramount's first feature with spoken dialogue and the first time Beery's voice was recorded for a film, although Beery's spoken dialogue was limited. Today, only the silent version of Beggars of Life is known to survive.[3][4]

The film is based on Outside Looking In, a stage play by Maxwell Anderson adapted from Jim Tully’s 1924 autobiographical book, Beggars of Life. The play debuted September 7, 1925 at the Greenwich Village Theater. Among those who attended a performance was Charlie Chaplin, who was accompanied by Louise Brooks. Paramount purchased the rights to Tully's book and Anderson's play in early 1928.[5]

Arlen and Brooks had appeared together the previous year in Rolled Stockings, which is considered a lost film. Beery and Brooks had appeared together the previous year in Now We're in the Air, which was considered a lost film until 2016 when an incomplete copy was found in Czech Republic.[6][7]

In 2017, the best surviving copy of Beggars of Life was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

Cast

• Wallace Beery as Oklahoma Red
• Louise Brooks as The Girl (Nancy)
• Richard Arlen as The Boy (Jim)
• (Robert Perry)(Bob Perry) as The Arkansaw Snake
• Blue Washington as Black Mose
• Roscoe Karns as Lame Hoppy
• Robert Brower as Blind Sims (uncredited)
• Frank Brownlee as the Farmer (uncredited)
• Jacques (Jack) Chapin as Ukie (uncredited)
• Andy Clark as Skelly (uncredited)
• Mike Donlin as Bill (uncredited)
• George Kotsonaros as Baldy (uncredited)
• Kewpie Morgan as Skinny (uncredited)
• Guinn "Big Boy" Williams as Baker's Cart Driver (uncredited)

See also

• Miss Nobody (1926)
• Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

References

Sources

• Brooks, Louise (1982). Lulu in Hollywood. Knopf. ISBN 0394-520718.
• Gladysz, Thomas (2017). Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film. PandorasBox Press. ISBN 978-0692879535.
• Paris, Barry (1989). Louise Brooks. Knopf. ISBN 0394-559231.

External links

• Beggars of Life at IMDb
• Beggars of Life at the TCM Movie Database
• Beggars of Life at AllMovie
• The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Beggars of Life
• Beggars of Life at SilentEra
• Beggars of Life at Louise Brooks Society
• Beggars of Life at Virtual History

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