In every film he shot in Scope, Walsh made an admirable and diversified use of the format. Here, from a cheaply written script with few locations and few scenes, through the use of Scope he obtains a bountiful calm rhythm both visually and dramatically. This in turn allows him to look at his heroine from a perspective that is at the same time peaceful and critical, familiar and detached. His genius also emerges in the vitality he brings out in certain scenes and shots, the determined yet slim silhouette of a supporting character (the dance hall owner played by Agnes Moorehead), the memorable portrayal of a secondary character (the feverish sailor who ruins himself to play cards with a hostess).

Jacques Lourcelles, Dictionnaire du cinéma, Paris, Laffont, 1992