"Harrison's Reports" awarded its top grade of "Excellent" and declared that the film "will not only stamp its enduring imprint on the glorious history book of the motion picture industry, but will leave its memorable impact on the minds of all those millions who see it." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post", however, panned the film as "a picture which never should have been made" due to the filmmakers' decision to present Jesus as "a universal, non-controversial figure," explaining that "to excise His dynamic, revolutionary concepts is to make His journey on earth a hollow ritual, a pointless fairy tale, an essay on How to Live Dangerously and Still Win." The "Monthly Film Bulletin" stated: "As, simply, a version of the infinitely well-known story, it has some curious interpolations (Christ's visit to John the Baptist in his cell) and omissions. The overwhelming failure, though, is in finding any kind of style, in imagery, dialogue or music, which goes beyond the most insipidly conventional kind of Bible illustrations."