Public Domain Movies

Beggars of Life is a 1928 American part-talkie sound film that was directed by William Wellman. The film stars Wallace Beery and Richard Arlen as hobos, and Louise Brooks as a young woman who dresses as a young man and flees the law.

Fleeing from the horror of her home life, Nancy, an orphan raised by a brutal foster father, kills the man in a moment of panic and self-defense. She is soon discovered by Jim, a young drifter and hobo, who stumbles upon the scene. Though initially reluctant, Jim agrees to help Nancy escape, and she disguises herself in boy's clothes to pass unnoticed.

Their flight leads them onto a freight train, but they are thrown off by a brakeman. Injured and hungry — Nancy suffering a twisted ankle—the pair finds refuge in a hobo encampment where two dominant figures, Arkansaw Snake and Oklahoma Red, are locked in a power struggle for control of the vagabond group.

Arkansaw Snake quickly suspects Nancy's true gender, but Jim forestalls any attempt to harm her by publicly displaying a police handbill with her photograph, warning the others she is wanted and must not be touched. Tension erupts in the camp as Snake tries to assert authority, but Oklahoma Red, rough and commanding, overrides Snake's orders and takes control, allowing the pair to remain.

Before conflict can escalate further, a police raid breaks up the camp, and the hoboes scatter. Jim, Nancy, and several others—including Black Mose, a gentle giant, and Lame Hoppy, a sickly tramp—manage to board another train and continue their journey. While on board, Oklahoma Red tries to dispose of Jim, seeing him as a rival, but Nancy cleverly intervenes and turns the tables, sparking a fight between Red and Snake. In the melee, Jim seizes Red's revolver and holds him off. Again, police break up the group, scattering the hoboes.

Now isolated, Jim, Nancy, Black Mose, and the ailing tramp take refuge in a remote shack. Red reappears, unexpectedly bearing women's clothing and an automobile, offering Nancy a real chance at escape. Jim and Nancy flee together in the car. Back at the shack, the sick tramp dies. In a final act of redemption, Red places Nancy's discarded garments on the corpse, hides the body in a lumber car, and sets it aflame—staging the scene so that the police will believe Nancy has perished in the fire. The ruse works: when detectives arrive, they assume Nancy is dead.

Having saved the couple, Red dies—either killed by pursuing lawmen or in a final act of sacrifice. As the story ends, Nancy and Jim ride atop a moving Pullman car, headed toward Canada and freedom. Having survived among the "beggars of life," they have found love—and a fragile but hopeful peace.

Cast

Wallace Beery as Oklahoma Red
Louise Brooks as The Girl (Nancy)
Richard Arlen as The Boy (Jim)
Robert (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)