more recently, film critic dennis schwartz, panned the film, writing, "nicholas ray ("rebel without a cause"/"in a lonely place"/"born to be bad") takes a routine 'woman's pic' and turns it into a somewhat oddly diverting noir film by using a few of his perverse touches to liven up the dry story. though made before ray's 'official' debut feature "they live by night", "a woman's secret" was released afterward (new rko studio boss howard hughes held up the release date for no apparent reason, but when released the film lost money as it failed to capitalize on gloria grahame's current career momentum which quickly faded) ... in the end, things get untangled. but it's resolved in such a half-hearted and unconvincing way, that the tidied up gem of a mess still gives off an awful stink."