 A negative review from David Denby in "New York" magazine article labeled the film “a failure” because Huston had not been able to translate the thoughts of tragic hero, Geoffrey Firmin, into a satisfying cinematic story.Denby found Finney’s performance technically brilliant, but the script only captured a fraction of the symbolism and interior thoughts of Lowry’s novel.In a review for "Commonweal", Foster Hirsch described Lowry’s book as “a Mount Everest that filmmakers have wanted to scale.”

The film was enthusiastically received, and was nominated for several awards.