Boring

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Blistering performances.

While undeniably entertaining "The Secret Six" does suffer from a rather messy screenplay courtesy of Frances Marion that makes the audience feel as though they are random passersby who picked up a few bits and pieces from some strangers' conversation. The plot which treads on familiar ground as it regards the rise and fall of a gangster (Wallace Beery) whose rise commends as his criminal friend (Ralph Bellamy) brings him in front of a crooked drunken attorney (Lewis Stone) who is also the brains behind a large underworld bootlegging operation. Later on as our main crook nicknamed "Slaughterhouse" begins to climb up the ranks within this gang of low lives by backstabbing pretty much anyone that stands in his way for the top. Two investigative reporters (Clark Gable and Johnny Mack Brown) decide to stop him from getting there with the help of an employee (Jean Harlow) who works at a restaurant operated by the bootleggers as their front. This is all quite easy to follow despite plenty of lousy dialogue (which the phrase "oh yeah?" makes about 30% of) but it's the final execution itself that's confusing. The movie starts off with us following "Slaughterhouse" for better or worse but then when those two male Nancy Drews show up the picture shifts gear and they become our main protagonists afterwards there's hardly any glimpse of him unless one of these guys is hanging about.Despite all of that "The Secret Six" does manage to provide lots of entertainment mainly thanks to it's colorful players - Beery is one mean bum, Bellamy fits surprisingly well is this dreary setting, Gable while he doesn't really have all that much to do except spit out his iffy good guy dialogue still manages to give a good show the same goes for Brown, Harlow's character seems like the biggest casualty here since there are little glimpses into her personalty but not much else.Marjorie Rambeau, Paul Hurst, John Miljan, DeWitt Jennings, and Murray Kinnell deliver highly stellar performances in their supporting roles but there's no doubt that my absolute favorite of the bunch was Lewis Stone he was simply tops. Of course one can't forget the masterful direction by George Hill. All in all very enjoyable could have been a classic if it wasn't for it's so-below-so writing.

***SPOILERS*** The movie chronicles the rise and fall of big time hoodlum Louie "Slaughterhouse" Scorpio, Wallace Beery, who made no bones in what he wanted,total control of the town of Centro, and stopped short at nothing to get it! Slaughterhouse started small time nickel and diming his way through life in the Centro meat market until ,after he tried to set Slaughterhouse up, he knocked off his two timing boss Johnny Franks, Ralph Bellamy, and took control of his gang. Not stopping to catch his breath Slaughterhouse went for the jugular and got his hand picked and paid off candidate for Mayor Nickolaus "Big Nick" Mizoski, Paul Hurst, elected by having his boys stuff the ballot boxes. On top of all that Slaughterhouse had his #1 hit-man Dummy Metz, Murray Kennell, knock off his #1 rival in town oppression gang leader Smilling Joe Colimo, John Miljan, to considerate his power.Despite Slaughterhouse's strong arm tactics in getting to the top the man who really got him there is mob shyster lawyer Richard "Newt" Newton played by Lewis Stone. It was Newt who used his shyster skills in court, as well as paying off and threatening jurors, to keep Slaughterhouse in business as well as keep his boys out of jail. In the meantime the city fathers were planning to put Slaughterhouse and his gang out of business by forming this secret committee called the "Secret Six". It's the shadowy "Secret Six" who's members wore Lone Ranger masks to hide their identities that was given total power by the City Fathers and law abiding people of Centro to do everything in their power to put an end to Slaughterhouse's reign of terror. It was up to hard hitting reporter Carl Luckner, played by Clark Gable without his famous mustache, to infiltrate Slaughterhouse's mob and get the goods on him, back taxes, that would put him away behind bars for as much as 10 to 15 years!It was pretty blond Anne Courtland who worked as a cashier at Slaughterhouse's stake restaurant who finally got up enough courage to finger him in court as the man behind the non-stop crime-wave going on in Centro. With Slaughterhouse having Anne's boyfriend newspaper reporter Hank Rogers, Johnny Mac Brown, knocked off for knowing and talking too much in front of her eyes on the subway that she finally had enough of him going to the state D.A as well as Federal law enforcement to spill all she knows about his criminal enterprise.***SPOILERS***What in fact did Slaughterhouse in was his own brainless violence in gunning down,in the back no less, the brains behind his operation big-time shyster Newt Newton! That's when Newt tried to smooth thing out when the hammer, the local state and federal law enforcement police, was about to land on his head. Instead of going along with Newt and checking out of town, and the country, with their ill gotten gains Slaughterhouse decided to duke or shoot it out with police which lead to his very predictable and ignominious downfall.

sounds like a super hero movie but it's not.Its about a Victor Mclaughlin who works in the stock yards in Chicago. His buddy Raplph Bellamy brings him into the bootlegging business where he excels and eventually takes over for Bellamy. Into the mix comes Jean Harlow, Johnnie Mack Brown, and some guy named Clark Gable, who impressed MGM so much they made him into a superstar (actually watching him he did it on his own- they just signed him). Its a crime pays until the final fade out tale that Hollywood used to do so well.This is a dense potboiler of a film. Its full of great characters and sets and lines and is super meaty. The trouble is it's almost too much. Actually its too much and too knowing. This is a big budget picture and it knows it, wearing it on it's sleeve. It's the sort of attitude that kind of gets in the way since it has too polished.I like the film, though the film to me is more curio for the casting and the filmmaking. rarely have I ever seen a film quite like this (the title refers to a band of good citizens who hide their identity to trip up our antihero.Definitely worth a look. Its something you'll probably like more than love and which you'll sing it's technical and casting praises more than it's story.

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)