Jon Mirsalison Piano In William Wellman's pre-Depression Era silent,adapted from a book by hobo writer Jim Tully, Louise Brooks plays a young girl onthe run from rural poverty, domestic violence, and a murder rap, having killedher brutal foster father in self-defense. Dressed as a man, she joins a hobofriend (Richard Arlen), hops the freights, and braves the hobo camps, which areinevitably invaded by detectives and plagued by their own internal squabbles.Brooks's performance illustrates the impressive range of her acting abilitiesduring her years in Hollywood in the silent era. And in Wellman's treatment ofthis American road story of tramps and boxcars, Kevin Brownlow (The Parade's GoneBy) finds "a style of astonishing elegance°.Beggars of Life is brilliantlythought out and superbly made."