[1][2] The film stars Ronald Fraser, Paul Massie, Carole Lesley and Dennis Price.

[6] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "A nouvelle vague-influenced opening of Paul Massie striding along London streets to a pounding jazzy score (in shakily matched exterior shots) and the sharply observed prison routines and settings, lead one to hope for more than the conventional comedy-drama which emerges.

The comedy scenes are brisk, however, and engagingly played by Ronald Fraser and Davy Kaye; uneasily hitched to some superficial social moralising about the degradation of prison life and the difficulty of going straight, they keep the interest and amusement going over the more embarrassing moments of self-sacrifice and home-spun philosophising.

Though the picture is filled with humorous moments, underneath is the continual feeling of the degradation and humiliation the prisoners must endure.

"[8] David McGillivray in the Radio Times also rated the film 3/5 stars, describing it as "Part social drama, part knockabout comedy, this is an odd but entertaining account of British prison life in the 1950s" and concluded that "the depiction of repetitive prison routine (the title refers to the detested practice of 'slopping out') still has an impact".