Whether you need mod_perl depends on how you determine if a page needs to be secure or not. If it is simple, like login.cgi and secret_table are always secure, then I would use mod_rewrite. If it is more complex, like secret_table is only protected for id=12, then you need to use mod_perl. I would consider trying to simplyify it so that the need to https is always.

Also, you might want to consider doing everything with https. This doesn't work on a public login site but makes a lot of sense on an intranet. This has the advantage that you don't have to worry about errors in the access control since everything is encrypted.