Leslie Halliwell in his "Film and Video Guide" (5th edition, 1985) dismissed it as a "well-meaning but leaden adaptation of a bestselling novel which followed on from "The Robe". He concluded that it is "too reverent by half, and in many respects surprisingly incompetent." Halliwell's quoted "Monthly Film Bulletin" ("its overall flatness of conception and execution is a stiff price to pay for the lack of spectacular sensationalism characterizing its fellow-epics") and "The Hollywood Reporter" ("the picture is three hours long, and, except for those who can be dazzled by big gatherings of props, horses and camels, it is hard to find three minutes of entertainment in it").