Critical
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Here is a story with almost unlimited possibilities for satire including, as it does, references to all the standard British war film themes, from Kwai to Navarone. Regrettably, its makers have taken the easy way out. Instead of pursuing all the debunking opportunities to their logical conclusion, they have fallen back on well-tried slapstick situations and hoary verbal gags. Even on this level, the production is often forced and heavy and, from a generally ill-directed cast, only Spike Milligan's brand of zany humour emerges reasonably intact." [6]
Kine Weekly wrote: "The picture makes neat cracks at British Intelligence, the Jerries, the Maquis, MO's and the Home Guard, but could have done with some Carry On ribaldry and 'skirt.' Bill Travers, John Le Mesurier and Gregoire Aslan are quite amusing as Oppenheimer, the colonel and Debrie, but the most versatile performance comes from Spike Milligan as the reluctant Pringle. Millicent Martin and Thelma Ruby are merely passengers in the only feminine roles. In the first half the humour is spontaneous, but during the second the gags are more ambitious and the conscious striving for effect lessens impact." [7]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "MGM's British department showed just how far its reputation had plummeted since the glory days of the late 1930s with this woeful wartime farrago. One might have had higher hopes for a script by Jack Trevor Story and John Briley, but what they serve up here is a preposterous tale about a ragtag outfit sent into Nazi-occupied France to knock out a gun aimed at Dover." [8]
