Secret Sinners (1933) User Reviews

Young innocents on the gay white way need to stick together!

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 18 June 2015]

This is a moderately interesting pre-code drama with occasional musical numbers thrown in about two girls who meet in a theatrical boarding house where one of them (a maid) is fired for socializing when she's supposed to be working. The wiser one (Cecilia Parker) takes the more innocent one (Sue Carol) under her wing, moves her into her room, and gets her a job working as a chorus girl in burlesque. They each have their own romantic adventures, the more interesting of which is Carol's romance with the already married Jack Mulhall. His estranged wife (the always fascinating vamp Natalie Moorehead) won't let him divorce her for less than $500,000, and when she discovers that her husband is involved with a chorus girl, she decides to go for everything he has.

Somewhat creaky despite a perfect set-up for what made pre-code drama so interesting, this has some bizarre sequences in a nightclub where an acrobatic girl does various tricks such as pick up a glass off the floor with her head. Other wise, this is just your standard story of young women surviving in the big city, adequate acting, but nothing really special. It is interesting to see Cecilia Parker in a film before she got to play Andy Hardy's uppity sister. There's a speeding car scene at the very end which makes up for the slow pacing for the rest of the film and leads the movie to an exciting conclusion.

Mild-Mannered Pre-Code

[boblipton · 4/10 · 3 August 2019]

Sue Carol and Cecilia Parker are chorus girls, rooming together. They're being courted by rich Jack Mulhall, and aspiring songwriter/publisher Nick Stuart. Mulhall is married to Natalie Moorhead, which is a mistake in any movie, but he's trying to get rid of her without it costing everything, so he can be with Miss Carol, which is a good idea in any movie and Alan Ladd out of one.

All this makes sense, but the title of this movie doesn't. There's little untoward going on in this movie, except a scene where the girl's lingerie are drying on a clothesline in their room. Perhaps it refers to Miss Moorhead's gigolo, Paul Ellis, whose character is named Travers but seems to be doing a Spanish accent.

There's little of interest in this movie except for a pair of night club acts. One is a flamenco dancer. The other is a woman who does contortion tricks.

So what if he's still married?!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 25 February 2021]

"Secret Sinners" is a pre-code film with definite pre-code sensibilities....and deals with things you simply won't see in films from mid-1934 to about 1960 (more or less). If it had been made a bit better, i'd probably have liked it better...but it isn't bad and is reasonably enjoyable.

The story is about a struggling young lady who loses her job, through no real fault of her own, at a boarding house. A lady befriends her and offers to let her stay with her and she helps Margie get a job as a chorus girl...and fortunately she really does want to help Margie...with no strings attached. Soon after she begins working there, she meets a really nice guy who you can't help but like. However, here is the problem and why the film is clearly pre-code....he is married and doesn't tell her. It's not that he's a sleaze-bag...but his wife is a vicious woman who cheats on him and lives to spend his money! How does all this work out....see the film.

The bottom line is that despite the name, "Secret Sinners", is NOT a sleazy exploitation film....though the way it was sometimes marketed made is seem like it was! In other words, you can watch this with your kids, your mother or Father Flannagan without them assuming you are some sort of perv. It's NOT dirty by any stretch and offers some interesting dilemmas and situations.

Low budget film suffers weak script, fair acting, little direction and lazy editing.

[larry41onEbay · 4/10 · 27 July 2018]

Just watched this film and here's the story... This love story was filmed as the Hays censors were beginning their work, but it was obviously not screened or approved by the censors, because there is way too much skin in the follies dancing scenes, and way too much witty dialogue about the lack of clothing that chorus girls Sue and Margie wear at work. Sue is a chorus girl who is not embarrassed about performing with very little of her body covered, and Margie is an Iowa farmer's daughter who has come to New York to become a famous Broadway actress. Margie cannot find work and is cleaning rooms at a boarding house for actors and Sue helps her get a job in the chorus of the Follies. Sue is in love with a young songwriter, and Margie will meet a millionaire who falls in love with her . . . . Of course, the millionaire's wife will cause them some grief . . . . But not more than they can handle. Enough about the story, I've just gotta dish some Hollywood gossip . . . . You don't mind do ya?

Well, first off, the perky and pretty brunette Sue, who has such good chemistry with her young songwriter boyfriend, is Sue Carol, the real-life wife of Nick Stuart, the fellow playing her boyfriend in the story. . . . No wonder they have such great chemistry! But wait . . . . That chemistry will not last . . . They will get divorced for some reason and Sue will fall in love with another actor . . . . Sue Carol was born Evelyn Jean Lederer, and her mother's name was Caroline, and when she started acting in movies she used the name Sue Carol. Well, a few years after she and Nick Stuart split up, she fell in love once again. On March 15, 1942 she married legendary actor Alan Ladd and they lived happily until his death many years later.

The other chorus girl in this story is Cecilia Parker, who you will remember not for her sexy chorus girl roles, but for her mid-west feel-good family stories. Four years after this movie, in 1937, Cecilia got a role in a movie called A Family Affair, where she played the older sister to Mickey Rooney in the first story about Judge Hardy and his son Andy Hardy. She would play Andy's older sister in most of the sixteen movies about Andy Hardy . . . . Except the one episode that entered public domain early and you can watch here: Love Laughs at Andy Hardy.

One more bit of trivia about the actors . . . When Jimmy buys the music publishing house he meets real-life composer/pianist Harry Barris, who would write songs that have been performed in movies ever since. Harry Barris died in 1962, but his music lives on to this day. His song 'I Surrender Dear' was featured in the 2005 movie The Notorious Bettie Page, and before that his music was used in the 1999 blockbuster "The Green Mile" . . . . And I could go on with movie after movie going all the way back to this one. . . . . But it is now time to pop a big bowl of white kernel popcorn with plenty of warm melted butter drizzled over it and enjoy the show. . . . Oh, I almost forgot . . . . One more thing that you might miss if I don't tell you to watch for it . . . For a good hoot, when we first meet Cecilia Parker as the scrub woman in the boarding house, watch the landlady closely as she delivers fresh towels to each room . . . Keep an eye on the towels :-)

Andy Hardy's Straight Laced Sister as a Chorus Girl!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 29 April 2015]

Sue Carol may be the nominated star but it is really Cecilia Parker's movie. Who would have thought that Andy Hardy's straight laced older sister would ever play a chorus girl (not "Blondie" as mentioned in IMDb) - but in "Secret Sinners" she does, albight a very innocent one!! She starts off as a maid of all work in a boarding house but with her beauty it's a cinch she is not going to go undiscovered for long and, sure enough, her peppy room mate Susie secures her a try out with the show she is with. Sue Carol never seemed to change - she still had that cute flapper look that made her Fox's resident jazz baby of the 1920s.

She and her then husband Nick Stuart play a wise-cracking team with the quips coming thick and fast. He is Jimmy, a song writer who just needs a lucky break ("I'll be back as soon as I finish my new song" - "I'll only be here until next year")!! Marjorie (Parker) meets incognito millionaire Jeff Gilbert (Jack Mulhall). He is bored and wants to mingle with the common people - she mistakes him for a pal of Jimmy's. He ingratiates himself with the friends right away by giving Jimmy help to get a music publishing business going but he makes the mistake of forgetting to say he is married!! Even though he is in the process of divorce, it is Natalie Moorhead and she usually shows no mercy as she goes for the jugular!!

There are some odd novelty acts dotted through the movie, like the girl who balances a glass of water on her forehead or the girl who can pick up a hanky with her teeth while bending over backwards!! - the pals sure dine at the strangest places!! Best of all Harry Barris takes a turn at the piano and turns a wilting ballad into a Rhythm Boys piano scat!! Of course Marjorie finds out (about the marriage) and is more than willing to take up the offer of resident stage door Lothario - he takes her to a roadhouse (pre-code talk for a very low dive) but there is a car accident and ......

This was Sue Carol's second comeback - after her marriage to Nick Stuart Fox washed their hands of her and started building up Dixie Lee (who very soon married Bing Crosby). Sue then came back in Radio's "Check and Double Check" (1930), the big hit of the year thanks to the public's curiosity to see their radio favourites "Amos and Andy". "Secret Sinners" was her second try but her second last film. She had just had a baby the year before and was probably beginning to think if all this movie limelight was worth it!!