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 from the Los Angeles Times believed that the film failed due to two key factors: a lack of wit and sophistication similar to Lubitsch's style, and a greater understanding of the Nazi regime's cruelty towards Jewish people by 1942.