{"id":1357,"date":"2006-09-01T09:30:10","date_gmt":"2006-09-01T16:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1357"},"modified":"2020-11-25T18:24:06","modified_gmt":"2020-11-26T01:24:06","slug":"secret-six-the-1931","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1357","title":{"rendered":"Secret Six, The (1931)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Carl, you&#8217;d better come through: Who are the secret six?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Poster-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Poster-1-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-54781\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Poster-1-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Poster-1-83x128.jpg 83w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Poster-1-176x270.jpg 176w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Poster-1.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA reporter (Clark Gable) and a moll (Jean Harlow) help a group of concerned citizens (the &#8220;Secret Six&#8221;) bring about the downfall of big-time prohibition-era mobster Louie Scorpio (Wallace Beery).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Clark Gable Films<\/li>\n<li>Gangsters<\/li>\n<li>Jean Harlow Films<\/li>\n<li>Journalists<\/li>\n<li>Lewis Stone Films<\/li>\n<li>Prohibition<\/li>\n<li>Wallace Beery Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, the cast in this early anti-crime flick is &#8220;first-rate&#8221;, with Wallace Beery&#8217;s &#8220;offbeat&#8221; performance as Louie Scorpio especially notable. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54783\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While there&#8217;s nothing new under the sun here in terms of the plot &#8212; small-time slaughterhouse worker rises to the top of the crime world by killing colleagues, bribing journalists, and planting politicians &#8212; it&#8217;s all done with style and levity, and is a joy to watch. It&#8217;s also fun to see Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in two of their earlier film roles, with Gable coming across as especially charismatic. However, this film really should have a different title, given that the &#8220;Secret Six&#8221; (concerned citizens who, as Peary puts it, &#8220;look silly in their Lone Ranger masks&#8221;) only show up twice, and don&#8217;t have much to do with the overall plot. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wallace Beery&#8217;s comical portrayal as &#8220;Slaughterhouse&#8221; Scorpio<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54784\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery2.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery2-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Beery2-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Clark Gable in one of his first star-making roles<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Gable.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Gable.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54786\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Gable.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Gable-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Gable-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Gable-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Jean Harlow in a sympathetic early role<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Harlow2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Harlow2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54788\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Harlow2.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Harlow2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Harlow2-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Harlow2-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Gable and his colleague (Johnny Mack Brown) making competing phone calls to their newspapers while simultaneously chatting up Jean Harlow<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Talking.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Talking.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54790\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Talking.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Talking-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Talking-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Talking-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A fun glimpse of the New York Metro system in the 1930s<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Metro.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Metro.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54789\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Metro.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Metro-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Metro-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Metro-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Scorpio dictating a letter to his secretary, who makes some substantial changes:<br \/>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Scorpio<\/strong>: &#8220;You better lay off shipping grapes into our state if you don&#8217;t cut me in on it.&#8221; Read that.<br \/>\n<strong>Secretary<\/strong>: &#8220;Gentlemen: I understand you are shipping concentrated grape juice into our state without consulting our organization.&#8221;<br \/>\n<strong>Scorpio<\/strong>: That&#8217;s right.<br \/>\n<strong>Secretary<\/strong>: Thank you, sir. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Dictating.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Dictating.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-54785\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Dictating.jpg 640w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Dictating-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Dictating-128x96.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/09\/Secret-Six-Dictating-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo. While it&#8217;s a good anti-crime flick with an excellent cast, I believe director George Hill&#8217;s previous film, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42945\"><em>The Big House<\/em> (1930)<\/a>, is a better candidate as a &#8220;must see&#8221; film. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0022357\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1931\/05\/02\/archives\/the-screen-racketeers-routed-romance-and-murder-a-murder-mystery.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s4035six.html?utm_medium=Email&#038;utm_source=ExactTarget&#038;utm_campaign=\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moviediva.com\/MD_root\/reviewpages\/MDSecretSix.htm\">Movie Diva Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Carl, you&#8217;d better come through: Who are the secret six?&#8221; Synopsis: A reporter (Clark Gable) and a moll (Jean Harlow) help a group of concerned citizens (the &#8220;Secret Six&#8221;) bring about the downfall of big-time prohibition-era mobster Louie Scorpio (Wallace Beery). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Clark Gable Films Gangsters Jean Harlow Films Journalists Lewis Stone Films Prohibition Wallace Beery Films Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: As Peary notes, the cast in this early anti-crime flick is &#8220;first-rate&#8221;, with Wallace Beery&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1357\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1357"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54794,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions\/54794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}