Main Cast: Richard Arlen, Virginia Bruce, Alice Brady, Bruce Cabot, Harvey Stephens
Release Year: 1935
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Produced independently by Edward Small, this surprisingly realistic gangster yarn stars stalwart Richard Arlen as Mal Stevens, an attorney recruited by the newly organized Federal Bureau of Investigation. After Mal and a couple of fellow recruits, Van Rensseler (Harvey Stephens) and Tex Logan (Gordon Jones), foil a plot by Joe Keefer (Bruce Cabot) to kidnap Eleanor Spencer (Virginia Bruce), the trusting debutante foolishly secures Joe's parole. From the outside, Keefer then masterminds a prison break for some of his pals and together they begin a reign of terror. Eleanor's brother Buddy (Eric Linden) goes undercover on behalf of Stevens and is killed by Keefer, but Eleanor, still denying that Keefer, her former chauffeur, is a gangster, blames Stevens. To avoid detection, Keefer kidnaps Dr. Hoffman (George Pauncefort), a noted plastic surgeon, who goes to work altering his appearance. His usefulness over, the good doctor is summarily executed but Hoffman manages to avenge himself from beyond the grave: when the bandages are removed, Keefer's features have been mutilated and his initials carved into the scarred face. Led to the hideout by Keefer's jilted moll Lola (Dorothy Appleby), Stevens confronts the disfigured gangster and there is a final struggle. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Review
A terse, tough, and at times frightening thriller, Let 'Em Have It! seems actually to have benefited from the lack of a large budget. Produced at RKO by Edward Small's independent Reliance Pictures Corp. and directed with a minimum of fuss by the veteran Sam Wood, this gangster melodrama was filmed prior to but released after Warner Bros.' more renowned but less authentic G-Men (1935), another thriller dealing with J. Edgar Hoover's burgeoning FBI. Although lacking a superstar like G-Men's James Cagney, Let 'Em Have It! comes with a solid cast of Hollywood reliables that includes Richard Arlen as the attorney turned G-Man and Virginia Bruce as the somewhat dense heroine. But the film's main acting honors belong squarely to Bruce Cabot, formerly of King Kong (1933), who eschews hoary theatrics in favor of realism as the unscrupulous villain. It is a surprisingly chilling performance from an actor mostly associated with essaying cool playboys, heroic or otherwise. According to Cabot himself, the role as the scarred gangster proved something of an ordeal that necessitated nearly six hours in the makeup chair every day. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
