 C. A. Lejeune, writing in "The Observer", considered it "a film with the French genius in the British manner"; the reviewer for "The Manchester Guardian" thought the film was "put together with ... tact and subtlety", and Henry Raynor, in "Sight & Sound" magazine, called it "one of the best post-war British films".Several critics identified the script as excellent and "The Manchester Guardian"s reviewer thought that the main credit for the film should be given to Mackenzie and MacPhail for the story.Lejeune thought that the story was treated "with the sort of fancy that is half childlike and half agelessly wise