When Jim announces that he has received a raise, the young couple decide to finally marry and inform Ann's parents about the engagement.

When Ferguson asks her to attend a local festival she agrees, but when another attendee pressures her for a kiss she is reminded of her rape, and attacks him with a wrench.

[3] Fred Camper from Chicago Reader in a positive review wrote "may not be stylistically original or completely successful, but it does treat the subject of rape with real sensitivity, especially for its era.

In his review, Richard Brody of The New Yorker glowingly lauded the film and Lupino's direction saying, Lupino turns prudish Hollywood conventions into a crucial part of the story: just as the word "rape" is never spoken in the movie, Ann is prevented from talking about her experience, and, spurred by the torment of her enforced silence and the trauma that shatters her sense of identity, she runs away from home.

Lupino's drama blends Ann's story with an incisive view of the many societal failures that contribute to the crime—including the unwillingness of the legal system to face the prevalence of rape.

Above all, Lupino depicts a culture of leers and wolf whistles and domineering boyfriends, and reveals the widespread and unquestioned aggression that women face in ostensibly consensual courtship and that's ultimately inseparable from the violence that Ann endures.