 Released to theaters on December 30, 1923, "The Courtship of Miles Standish" received some critical acclaim, mainly for its cinematography, but received generally lukewarm reviews and was a box office failure.Ray lost all of the money he invested in the film and, due to the film’s box office failure, his popularity quickly declined.Thomas Ince, who had worked with Ray early in his career, attempted to help Ray by casting him in the drama "Dynamite Smith" (1924), directed by Ince's brother Ralph.