Most critics are strongly favourable, with praise clustering around the film’s visual craft, sustained tension and Welles’s performance as the corrupt Captain Quinlan. The opening tracking shot draws repeated attention for its control and suspense, while the expressionistic cinematography gives the noir melodrama much of its force. The reviews also value the moral ambiguity and depth of character, finding more than thriller mechanics beneath the elaborate staging.
Reservations are scattered rather than shared, and several concern particular versions or releases rather than the film itself. Little White Lies finds the story potentially contrived, while Variety welcomes the reconstruction’s greater clarity without seeing it as a change in the film’s artistic standing. The handling of music produces a smaller distinction: The AV Club praises the revised opening without music for increasing suspense, whereas Variety regrets the absence of Mancini’s theme over the end credits.