Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times thought that the film didn't work "on two formidable counts. First, Brooks and his associates could never be accused of having anything remotely resembling a Lubitsch touch: that celebrated, indefinable combination of wit, subtlety and sophistication that allowed the legendary Berlin-born director to get away with implying just about anything, although even he was accused of bad taste in making his 'To Be Or Not To Be.' Second, we know far more than was known in 1942 of the full extent of the Nazi evil, especially in regard to the fate of the Jews ...
Kevin Thomas, writing in the Los Angeles Times, criticized the film for its lack of wit and sophistication, which he compared to the work of Lubitsch. He also noted that knowledge about the full extent of Nazi atrocities, particularly against Jews, had increased by 1942.