Captain Craddock is ordered by queen Yola to go and pick up the queen of Livorno with his war ship. At the casino in the principality of Monaco the captain loses the money with which he was to pay the crew. He threatens to attack the casino in order to get his money back. A new world of appearances and illusions has been captured and with such sophisticated effects! The spectator is left dazzled as the magic of the talking film conveys all its appeal. Has the fusion of images and sound ever reached such levels of perfection? […] Günther Rittau’s camera captures all the appeal of the sundrenched landscape of the south and the splendour and warmth of those lands can now reach the humblest of provincial cinemas. The film contains a galaxy of brilliant stars and is animated by the throbbing of groups of people at the gaming tables, in the bars and on the promenade. Here the subtle art of the camera operator and the pictorial sensibility of the director Hanns Schwarz come together. What is all too often a simple ornament, a lifeless accessory, here comes to life. The role played by the music is, in this sense, fundamental. It’s not the first time that Werner Richard Heymann achieves a similar result, but his contribution to the success of the films in which he has had a hand increases from film to film.

Hans Feld, in “Film-Kurier”, 204, 1.9.1931