Many contemporary and modern critics, most of whom are unfamiliar with the film's comedy origins, have unfairly judged "Number Seventeen" as a failed attempt at serious drama. For instance, "Variety" wrote, "Like the play, the story is vague and, despite its intended eeriness, unconvincing. It is asking a lot of an audience—even a picture one—to make them believe a woman accomplice of a band of thieves will fall in love at first sight with a detective and prevent his being done in by her associates." The review noted that the climactic train crash scene was "very good, but not sufficient to make it anything but a program feature."