wes-connors During Prohibition, scruffy stockyards worker Wallace Beery (as Louis "Slaughterhouse" Scorpio) is offered a more lucrative job bootlegging with pal Ralph Bellamy (as Johnny Franks). After a shooting, mob boss Lewis Stone (as Richard Newton) covers for Mr. Beery, who has become his right hand man. Investigating reporters Clark Gable (as Carl Luckner) and John Mack Brown (as Hank Rogers) try to avoid bribes while getting close enough to blow the lid off the racket. "The Secret Six" assists in crime-solving...This film is too cluttered, though it helps that Mr. Stone doubles as a lawyer. The crowded cast tries, with Mr. Beery continuing to be an engaging "talkie" presence. Berry first appeared in the "Quigley Publications" annual poll of money-making stars in 1931 (at #6) and remained for most of the 1930s. While listed down in the credits, by the end you'll know Mr. Gable is a star on the rise. Platinum blonde Jean Harlow (as Anne Courtland) and floozy Marjorie Rambeau (as Peaches) provide feminine companionship.**** The Secret Six (4/18/31) George W. Hill ~ Wallace Beery, Clark Gable, Lewis Stone, Jean Harlow

bkoganbing The Secret Six, produced by William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Pictures for MGM, has an interesting message about extralegal means to bring down systemic corruption. The title figures are six notable citizens who are all masked, representing all kinds of interests who come together when organized crime takes over a city. We never see The Secret Six, they only come in the last third of the film. But we do see how they operate.The films is the story of the rise and fall of Wallace Beery who becomes an Al Capone like figure, the real brains of the outfit however is the mob's lawyer Lewis Stone. With Stone pulling the strings and polluting the justice system, Beery rises to power in a typical gangland battle. When the regular law enforcement channels don't work, The Secret Six start working with the federal government to bring Beery down. Working with them are a pair of reporters Johnny Mack Brown and Clark Gable. A key witness in the events is Jean Harlow in her first MGM film.For those who are used to seeing Lewis Stone as the rock of integrity as Judge Hardy, Stone as a bottom feeding shyster lawyer will be quite the revelation. Maybe because he's cast against type he's so good, he just oozes sanctimony in front of a jury.One character I wish that we'd seen a bit more of is Paul Hurst who is Beery's friend and whom the gang elects mayor of a small town. Once doing that the gang moves on to a big city where they take down top gangster boss John Miljan. The situation parallels Al Capone's takeover of Hawthorne, Illinois. I wish Hurst hadn't just disappeared from the story after his election.The Secret Six was the first of six films that Clark Gable and Jean Harlow worked in. Next to Joan Crawford, Gable teamed with Harlow more than any other leading lady. Neither of them however are the stars here, they are billed way down in the cast list. Marjorie Rambeau also has a nice role as a good time girl who Beery uses as a doormat, but Rambeau has the last laugh on him.Although Warner Brothers was the gangster studio with their emphasis on working class films, The Secret Six could give any of the Warner products a run in quality.

gary olszewski not the greatest of all crime dramas, but very interesting to watch a very young, relatively unknown Clark gable, and the pre-sexpot Harlow in the typical crime drama of the early talkies. plenty of clichés and tired sub-plots, Harlow is actually a bit boring, not a really great actress by any means, but well-suited to these low-budget early talkies. Seems the studios didn't really know what to do with the young Gable, before Thalberg hired him and he was on his up to stardom! He seemed quite a versatile character player for his era, until he became stereotyped into the superstar vein. the story itself is fairly typical of the B features of the area, but well worth watching, as I enjoy seeing later superstars in their "salad days" just getting started!

Michael O'Keefe This is a great gangster movie with a very talented cast. Wallace Beery plays a Capone-type hoodlum that allows nothing to stand in his way. Well, tax problems do put his power and glory on the skids. The veteran actor Lewis Stone is a 'high brow' crime lord. Usual good guy Ralph Bellamy is a bootlegger/night club owner. The Chicago night life and gangland activity keeps this flick rocking back and forth, but well worth watching.Talk about a great supporting cast. Get a load of this: Johnny Mack Brown, Clark Gable and the enchanting Jean Harlow. Fun to watch on the same evening with SCAREFACE(32) and THE STAR WITNESS(31)