After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of hobos, and steal ... See full summary »
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After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of hobos, and steal a car in their attempt to escape the police, and reach Canada. Written by
Kevin Coughlin <starmist@buffnet.net>
The train wreck in this movie (an actual derailment) was filmed in Carrizo Gorge in the Southern California desert; the wreckage is still there. See more »
Quotes
The Boy:
Ain't it funny when you think of the millions o' people in warm houses and feather beds, an' us just driftin' 'round like the clouds? But I guess it's about even when you boil it down. Even them people in feather beds ain't satisfied - we're all beggars of life.
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While she is known primarily for her work for G.W. Pabst in the German films Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl, Louise Brooks is phenomenal in William Wellman's movie of a young girl on the run after she murders her sexually abusive guardian. The opening scene, in which the murder takes place, is gorgeously imagistic and ranks (for me) as one of the most indelible moments in all of cinema. Richard Arlen and Wallace Beery are very good in their roles, but the movie belongs to Brooks, whose ability to underplay in the silent era -- when mugging and exaggeration were more the rule than the exception -- makes her seem ultra-contemporary. It is little wonder Brooks has such resonance with modern audiences.
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While she is known primarily for her work for G.W. Pabst in the German films Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl, Louise Brooks is phenomenal in William Wellman's movie of a young girl on the run after she murders her sexually abusive guardian. The opening scene, in which the murder takes place, is gorgeously imagistic and ranks (for me) as one of the most indelible moments in all of cinema. Richard Arlen and Wallace Beery are very good in their roles, but the movie belongs to Brooks, whose ability to underplay in the silent era -- when mugging and exaggeration were more the rule than the exception -- makes her seem ultra-contemporary. It is little wonder Brooks has such resonance with modern audiences.