Louise Brooks film Beggars of Life shows in England

The 1928 Louise Brooks film, Beggars of Life, will be shown on Sunday, October 6th in Dorset, England. More information can be found HERE.

According to the venue: The Dodge Brothers and Neil Brand play live to a screening of the classic 1928 silent film Beggars of Life. Renowned film critic Mark Kermode - who plays bass and harmonica - will be joining his bandmates and acclaimed composer Brand for a musical accompaniment to the seminal 1928 silent movie featuring Wallace Beery as a rail-riding hobo and Louise Brooks as a girl on the run. The Dodge Brothers (Mike Hammond, Mark Kermode, Aly Hirji and Alex Hammond) play an exuberant hybrid of country blues, rockabilly, jugband and skiffle. 

“Never has a film and a band been more perfectly matched than ‘Beggars of Life’ and the Dodge Brothers – deep dish Americana, rail-riding hoboes and Louise Brooks – they were made for each other.” – Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film, British Film Institute.

The performance has been met with glowing reviews following London shows, and the band became the first ever to accompany a silent film at Glastonbury Festival in 2014. Tickets: £17.50, Concessions £15.50 (including 50p Regent Centre Development Fee)

 

 Want to learn more about Louise Brooks and Beggars of Life? My book, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, as well as the DVD / Blu-ray of the film from Kino Lorber, are the perfect compliment to one another. And what's more, the DVD, featuring the best copy of the film available anywhere, includes an informative commentary by yours truly!

My 106-page book on Beggars of Life looks at the film Oscar-winning director William Wellman thought his finest silent movie. Based on Jim Tully’s bestselling book of hobo life—and filmed by Wellman the year after he made Wings (the first film to win the Best Picture Oscar), Beggars of Life is a riveting drama about an orphan girl (played by Louise Brooks) who kills her abusive stepfather and flees the law. She meets a boy tramp (leading man Richard Arlen), and together they ride the rails through a dangerous hobo underground ruled over by Oklahoma Red (future Oscar winner Wallace Beery). Beggars of Life showcases Brooks in her best American silent—a film the Cleveland Plain Dealer described as “a raw, sometimes bleeding slice of life.” This first ever study of Beggars of Life includes more than 50 little seen images, a mention of the Dodge Brothers, and a foreword by actor and author William Wellman, Jr. (the director's son).

If you haven't secured a copy of either the book or the DVD / Blu-ray, why not do so today? Each is an essential addition to your Louise Brooks collection, and EACH IS AVAILABLE IN BOTH THE UK AND THE USA via amazon.com.