The consensus is strongly favourable, with praise centred on W.C. Fields’s performance and the freedom the film gives his comedy. Critics repeatedly single out his expansive delivery, derisive patter and unruffled response to improbable good fortune; the loose storytelling is generally treated as permission for the routines to flourish. Though Fields dominates the notices, Radio Times also praises the supporting cast, particularly Cora Witherspoon, Una Merkel and Jessie Ralph.
The differences are chiefly matters of enthusiasm rather than outright dissent: all eight reviews are classified as positive, though the available summaries offer uneven detail. Variety finds some of the gags old-fashioned but considers the fresh material sufficient to keep them working. Time Out notes Fields’s limited versatility while admiring how effectively he uses his sour persona. Most critics place greater weight on the precision and pleasure of his comic routines than on those limitations.