The film received highly favorable reviews. Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" called it "a stirring and memorable film," while "Variety" wrote: "A triumphant achievement in film-making, it will be rated one of the great pictures of Hollywood." "Harrison's Reports" raved, "Excellent! Sumptuously produced, expertly directed and brilliantly acted, 'Julius Caesar' is an artistic triumph that ranks with the best of the Shakespearean plays that have been put on film." John McCarten of "The New Yorker" called the film "a very chilly exercise" and opined that Brando "plainly shows he needs a bit of speech training before he can graduate into an acting league where the spoken word is a trifle more significant than the flexed biceps and the fixed eye," but praised Mason and Gielgud as "a pleasure to watch and listen to." "The Monthly Film Bulletin" called it "an excellent film, excellent cinema, excellent entertainment, and pretty respectable art."