Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The mixture of comedy and sentiment, with realistic trimmings, is as facile as might be expected from the director of Angelina . In spite of its authentic Italian background, the film has a persistent air of artificiality. Scenes in the Children's Home, presided over by Manning Whiley's ailing priest, are oversentimentalised and stilted, and performances by some delightful-looking Italian children robbed of all charm by the use of dubbed English voices, a fault which also prevents the crowd scenes from making an effect. Patricia Medina is miscast as the heroine, though Yvonne Mitchell acts well as her more abandoned friend." [3]
Kine Weekly wrote: "Juvenile comedy melodrama, made and set in sunny Italy. Dedicated to the illegitimate offsprings of Allied soldiers, its plot turns on the far-from-spontaneous philanthropy of a girl black marketeer. Much of its sentiment is lofty, but its lesson, to say nothing of its entertainment, is hopelessly cramped by uneven characterisation, untidy direction and partly dubbed dialogue. ... The moral of the film is that it is far more blessed to give than to receive, but, in spite of the natural performances by the children, it fails to put its message across. Once it lands on the island of Ischia its main theme is cluttered up with the pomposities of civic big-wigs and laboured commentary on the inconsistency of public opinion." [4]
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