"New Movie Magazine" stated that the film was "a bully mystery melodrama and the best of months. You will never guess the real murderer until the denouement" and praised the performances of Dorothy Sebastian. In contrast, "Variety" declared the film "a hopelessly involved script handled by Lionel Barrymroe in a way that would discredit a quickie director. Worse than the worst would-be thriller meller staged on Broadway and impressing as a pointless souffle burlesquing them all" concluding that the film was "a one hundred percent lemon." Film critic and historian Troy Howarth, declared that "If the film is any indication of Barrymore's overall directing talent, it's no surprise that he eventually returned his focus exclusively to acting." and found the film "painfully creaky and melodramatic...unfolding in painfully static medium and long shots". Michael R. Pitts discussed in his book on obscure genre films between 1928 and 1936, that the film "consists of talk with little physical action" and that "the film moves at a fairly good pace, contains fine performances and is atmospheric in its London fog scenes and in the old mansion in which the story takes place". Pitts did note that the film was overlong and "somewhat static and a bit creaky" by contemporary standards, but that "it holds up well and provides several doses of cinematic chills, especially during the climactic seance." Critic Roy Kinnard commented "This melodramatic but rather tame detective mystery relied almost entirely on dialogue to advance its plot. Boris Karloff...is among the supporting players." Troy Howarth commented on Boris Karloff in the role of Abdul, the Hindu lawyer, who "takes advantage of his naturally dark complexion but... struggles terribly with the thick Indian accent." Leonard Maltin gave the film two stars, calling it a "stagy Ben Hecht melodrama with much hamming, especially by unbilled Karloff".