"The New York Times"' Bosley Crowther suggested that viewers see the film "... as an antidote to all the bromides about show people being lovely folk, amusing, courageous, soft-hearted and dedicated to spreading sunshine in the world... "The Entertainer" is a devastating picture of a hollow, hypocritical heel and of the pitiful people around him who are drowned in his grubby vanity ... Yet it works out to a fascinating picture, for one reason because of its superior illustrative performance and, for another, because of its striking mise en scène. Mr. Olivier is nothing short of brilliant...Director Tony Richardson has imaged the cheapness of a seaside music hall, of grubby 'digs' and the midway surroundings in such a way as to have them all but smell ..."