 When the film was released, film critic Bosley Crowther, panned the drama, writing, "Not only is the story presumptuous and contrived, without any clarification of character or theme, but it is directed by Joseph Losey in a provokingly ostentatious style and it is played by a cast of professionals as though it were an exercise at dramatic school.Preston Foster is funereal as the father, Howard St. John is insolent as the man who beats him up.Philip Bourneuf is bleary as a bibulous professor and Joan Lorring is sugary as a benevolent girl.