Bosley Crowther wrote in the "New York Times", "The trouble with this romantic picture ... is that nothing really happens, the complications within the characters are never clear and the sloppy, self-pitying fellow at the center of the whole thing is a bore." "TV Guide" describes the film as "the ultimate in lush melodrama ... Douglas Sirk's finest directorial effort ... one of the most notable critiques of the American family ever made."