[7] Kine Weekly said "The robust 'crooks fall out' is peopled with a colourful assortment of vital and arresting characters, and these, skilfully manipulated by author and director, enable the film to tread water effectively.

Dick Powell and Evelyn Keyes head the cast expertly, while the detective is played with considerable aplomb by that individual personality, Lee J.

"[9] Richard Brody from The New Yorker noted "This terse and taut film noir is centered on the romantic and professional conflicts of the title character, the criminal mastermind (played by Dick Powell) behind a posh illegal casino.

The film’s writer and director, Robert Rossen, sets up a multidimensional chess game, for mortal stakes, between Johnny, his boss (Thomas Gomez), his boss’s wife (Ellen Drew), a cagey police inspector (Lee J. Cobb), and a scuffling actress (Evelyn Keyes) whose sister (Nina Foch) worked at the casino and dated a corrupt detective (Jim Bannon).

The caustically epigrammatic script, the cast’s suavely controlled gestures of love and menace, and Rossen’s thrillingly restrained and stylishly assertive images (as well as his political conscience) make this pugnacious yet intricate spectacle a hidden classic of the genre.

"[10] Variety gave the film kudos, writing, "This is a smart whodunit, with attention to scripting, casting and camerawork lifting it above the average.

Strong teamplay by Robert Rossen, doubling as director-scripter, and Milton Holmes, original writer and associate producer, also aids in making this a smooth production.

It is mainly a matter of watching Mr. Powell go through his paces stylishly while a large cast of actors and actresses give him customary support.

Evelyn Keyes plays the good little lady who brings out the best in him and Ellen Drew is the sleek and slinky vixen who gets him into jams.

Thomas Gomez is oily as the villain and Lee J. Cobb does another able tour as a weary police inspector who finally closes the case.

"[12] Philp French, writing in The Observer said: "This rarely shown film noir is the cool, controlled directorial debut of the left-wing writer who went on to make such classics as All the King's Men [1949] and The Hustler [1961].