By the time Secrets, the film, came out in 1933 audiences were ready for something more cutting-edge. One critic remarked that, "the Talmadge version is too stagy and drawn-out, and this second version is much more cinematic" (Callahan). Mary Pickford, another starlet of the silent screen, was casted as Mary Carlton. Secrets was Mary Pickford’s last film and her first “talkie”. 

The fact that she had based her career on silent films meant that she had a very distinct way of acting. "More importantly, her style of acting didn't work in sound films: in the first scenes of Secrets, Pickford does an emotion, freezes it as if she's waiting for a title card to be inserted, then goes into the next emotion. (Gloria Swanson had the same problem.) She was unable piece emotions and behavior together or make it flow (Callahan). It is also noticed that when Mary’s baby dies, that Pickford’s acting is at its best. One critic commented that, “It's no mistake that her best scene is a silent one" (Callahan), and another critic agreed that as "Mary goes into the bedroom and discovers that their infant son is dead she gives a long slow silent movie reaction. She proves what Norma Desmond meant by, “We had faces then!”. Her facial expressions are brilliant. While she was only average at delivering dialogue she was one of the finest actresses of the silent medium" (Nash).  

Mary Pickford actually chose the script and pushed very hard for it to get produced. She may have felt a certain connection with the script and the character of Mary when it came to the affair. "In the last section, Pickford stands by her husband (Leslie Howard) after she learns of his affair with a dark-eyed temptress; this was meant to show Pickford's loyalty to her husband Douglas Fairbanks, whose eye had begun to wander to other women” (Callahan). Sadly, the production was not enough to keep her marriage intact and in 1936. 

While the movie was not an astonishing piece of work it was still a well-written movie that was overshadowed by other movies, such as Cavalcade (Nash). Everything about Secrets is now outdated and very difficult to relate to a modern audience; this was definitely first apparent with Pickford’s rendition of Secrets. "All in all, it makes a rather lovely and satisfyingly romantic swan song for its star, who thereafter holed herself up in her mansion, Pickford, to indulge in chronic alcoholism and regret" (Callahan).