Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This story has been designed to present a moral concerning the virtues of democracy, and the importance of public alertness: the example shown is local, but opportunity is not lost te suggest the national implications. This theme, many sentiments voiced by the characters, and especially by the professor who is the author's mouthpiece, are admirable. Unfortunately, however, the attempt to express them in terms of the film medium is somewhat inadequate. The whole thing is conceived in terms of theatre, and when a point is to be particularly emphasised, it is done by a long speech shot in close up. The story suffers too, as a film, from looseness of construction and disturbing longeurs. Its one outstanding feature is a fine performance by Fred Emney, who gives his part conviction and is extremely funny. It is, on the whole, a film which will probably be popular with British audiences who are prepared not to be overcritical of its shortcomings." [4]
kin
Time Out wrote that "John Baxter was the British director probably least patronizing and most sympathetic to the working classes and their culture during the '30s and '40s, and even if his films now often seem naïve and simplistic, it's good at least to see an honest and humorous attempt to deal with life outside Mayfair. Less scathing than Love on the Dole (his best known film), this adaptation of a J.B. Priestley novel is a spritely, vaguely Capra-esque comedy... Fred Emney steals the show as a government arbitrator susceptible to the charms of alcohol." [5]
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