The Stroud Film Festival has announced that the 1928 Louise Brooks film, Beggars of Life, will be shown on Sunday, March 15, 2020 at the Lansdown Hall in Lansdown, England. This special screening, with live musical accompaniment, is being presented by the Lansdown Film Club. More information and ticket availability can be found HERE.
The promoter's description of this event reads thus: "Silent movie with live musical accompaniment composed and played by luminary of American old-time country music, Kate Lissauer with arguably the UK’s finest Bluegrass guitarist, Jason Titley, plus internationally awarded 5-string banjo great, Leon Hunt. Beggars of Life directed by William Wellman the year after he made Wings (first film to win an Academy Award) is a tense drama about a girl (Louise Brooks) dressed as a boy who flees the law after killing her abusive stepfather. With the help of a young hobo, she rides the rails through a male dominated underworld in which danger is close at hand. Picture Play magazine in 1920’s described the film as 'Sordid, grim and unpleasant,' adding, 'it is nevertheless interesting and is certainly a departure from the usual movie.' If you like country music and iconic silent movies, this is a rare treat not to be missed… ."
A brief write-up about the event in the local Gloucester Punchline stated, unusually so, "It's a silent classic western starring, unusually for the time, a woman in the lead role. Louise Brooks was big news at the time and still has a number of followers."
Want to learn more about this outstanding drama? In 2017, I authored Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film. My book grew out of the considerable research I did for the audio commentary which I provided for the Kino Lorber DVD / Blu-ray release of the film that same year.
This first ever study of 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 (screen legend 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.”
My book features 15,000 words of text and more than 50 little seen images, as well as a foreword by actor William Wellman,
Jr., son of the legendary director. The book is available from amazon.com, B&N and select independent bookstores in the United States. Both my book and the Kino disc are also available on amazon.com in the United Kingdom. On the UK amazon site the book has received two 5 star ratings, with readers stating:
The promoter's description of this event reads thus: "Silent movie with live musical accompaniment composed and played by luminary of American old-time country music, Kate Lissauer with arguably the UK’s finest Bluegrass guitarist, Jason Titley, plus internationally awarded 5-string banjo great, Leon Hunt. Beggars of Life directed by William Wellman the year after he made Wings (first film to win an Academy Award) is a tense drama about a girl (Louise Brooks) dressed as a boy who flees the law after killing her abusive stepfather. With the help of a young hobo, she rides the rails through a male dominated underworld in which danger is close at hand. Picture Play magazine in 1920’s described the film as 'Sordid, grim and unpleasant,' adding, 'it is nevertheless interesting and is certainly a departure from the usual movie.' If you like country music and iconic silent movies, this is a rare treat not to be missed… ."
A brief write-up about the event in the local Gloucester Punchline stated, unusually so, "It's a silent classic western starring, unusually for the time, a woman in the lead role. Louise Brooks was big news at the time and still has a number of followers."
Want to learn more about this outstanding drama? In 2017, I authored Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film. My book grew out of the considerable research I did for the audio commentary which I provided for the Kino Lorber DVD / Blu-ray release of the film that same year.
This first ever study of 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 (screen legend 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.”
No comments:
Post a Comment