It is, if we are not wrong, the third Italian post-war film and the idea inspiring it is a good one: showing that the drama of these last fives years has not only made soldiers suffer, and that ruin has not only struck the bombed houses (…). The idea is a good one (…) and the results would have been better if they had not so often been expressed in words rather than by events. Mattòli is an intelligent director but he should beware dialogists. Nonetheless, he has managed to provide us with a portrait – albeit one a little over-stressed in certain points – in the context of Italy today, and this is already a great deal. The cast have done their best, and some of Giachetti’s silences are no less effective than some of Alida Valli’s tears and some of Eduardo De Filippo’s witticisms. In short, the film is not tiresome and is even moving in parts.

Indro Montanelli, “Corriere d’Informazione”, Milan, 22 December 1945