The Secret Six

The Secret Six (1931)

Runtime: 83 minutes

Directed by: George W. Hill

Starring: Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Clark Gable, Johnny Mack Brown, Jean Harlow

From: MGM

I haven't talked about it here but the past few days I rewatched the classic gangster films Scarface, The Public Enemy and Little Caesar. I enjoy all of them. This movie, it's another example in the genre but now this is forgotten. My Letterboxd review is below:

As of late I've rewatched several of the classic gangster movies of the 1930's. Thus, I decided to watch one now obscure in this day and age that I discovered existed when I was reading an article online. As it's available for rental from Amazon, that's what I did and I gave the site a few bucks. This was one of MGM's efforts in the genre.

The plot: Louis Scorpio (played by Wallace Beery) is usually known as SLAUGHTERHOUSE, which is awesome and comes from the job you see him working at the beginning of the movie. He joins a gang and yep, manages to rise in the ranks. You see that there's an overseer who really runs everything. You also get to look at how they influence politics by endorsing their (corrupt) candidate for mayor and bribe juries to avoid conviction. “The power of the press” applies here as two of the men who try to stop the gang are newspaper reporters (one of them a mustache-less Clark Gable in an early role); however, the title group of 6 men are mysterious businessmen and politicians who wear Lone Ranger masks to hide their identity when they meet others because... well, why not? Anyhow, their purpose is to eradicate the gang.

The movie is definitely uneven and it's not as great as the classics in the genre. However, I can still say it's fine. It was interesting to see how that particular gang was set up and run, and how Slaughterhouse was always an uncouth under-educated guy, despite his best attempts otherwise... although he does prefer drinking a glass of milk to a glass of alcohol. There are still some violent moments (especially the hot ending) and the typical trademarks you expect from the genre. And, the cast has faces I am familiar with besides Gable; there's Wallace Beery as Slaughterhouse, Lewis Stone, Johnny Mack Brown, Ralph Bellamy, and in another actor with an early role, Jean Harlow.

If you have seen and enjoyed the most famous entries in the genre then this may be worth a shot for you. At least the movie is well-shot and has some nice touches.