FilmInk called the film "The most fun of Lee’s European movies", "a silly sword and sandal epic with Lee having a high old time as the notorious empress, taking milk baths and seducing gladiators." Film critic Gary Smith wrote that: Of the many screen interpretations of Messalina this is probably the most satisfying due to the casting of
Belinda Lee in the title role. This is not to suggest that
Messalina is the most historically accurate or even the best produced version, but Belinda Lee’s pagan beauty seems to exude wantonness, and this is just the right quality needed for a successful portrayal of Rome’s most dissolute empress. Lee, who played a number of memorable screen temptresses in her brief film career, including
Lucretia Borgia in
The Nights of Lucretia Borgia and
Potiphar’s wife in
Joseph and His Brethren, had beauty and charisma. == References ==