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Beggars of Life1928 US Dir William Wellman Cast Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen IMDb |
This film is a great deal more interesting than Mordaunt Hall gives it credit for in the Times, calling it “rather a dull and unimaginative piece of work,” with far more transpiring than he’d admit, it being in his view “largely confined to scenes of tramps hopping freight trains.” His point is well taken in some sections, intended to shed light on hobo culture I suppose, where indeed Wellman’s lack of knowledge and passion for the subject becomes apparent and the audience’s interest does wane. Loosely adapted from the book by Jim Tully, once a hobo himself, one imagines the source material would be a better place to look for insight on the subject.
But the film succeeds marvelously when it takes to the road and rail and keeps chugging along, and then Wellman brings much energy and visual — and, briefly, aural — appeal to his subject. More than a treatment of hobo life, it is a rollicking picaresque and tale of love on the run. It begins thrillingly enough when hungry young Jim stumbles into an open kitchen door to find a dead man’s body at the table, and in the next room a terrified Nancy, who has just committed the crime. Played compellingly by Louise Brooks, she recounts her ordeal: the man who adopted her two years ago (one raises an eyebrow, but accepts this) attempted to abuse her, and she shot him in self-defense. This is one of the dark and virtuosic moments in the film, the image of her stunned and cold face superimposed on the memory of what she has endured. She is stunned into complete inaction, in fact, but upon hearing her story Jim knows she will be hanged and decides to help her escape to Canada.
The film is thoroughly though not relentlessly bleak, as on each phase of their journey the strangers they encounter cruelly refuse to offer help. The low moments are mitigated by the lightness and intimacy that gradually develops between Jim and Nancy, and their relationship is the most authentic and appealing aspect of the film. It’s when they cross paths with a gang of hoboes that, to my mind, the film begins to drag and eventually to feel overlong. As the cunning and complicated Oklahoma Red, Wallace Beery’s outsized performance takes center stage and, for better or worse, fundamentally changes the course of the film as much as he does the lives of the young couple. The tensions that arise, and with the cops now hot on their trail, lead to an uncommonly exciting finale that includes a real train derailment. With this finale, Wellman recaptures what he had done most effectively earlier in the film: keep things moving, keep things explosive, keep things real.
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