Kinematograph Weekly reported the film as a "runner up" at the British box office in February 1938. In a contemporary review for the
Sunday Mirror, critic Walter Webster wrote:The plot is highly ingenious. It is developed with fine expense and the background of Scotland Yard with Stewart Rome in charge is utterly convincing. This is good stuff with a glorious comedy performance by Alastair Sim as a Scotch reporter in London, Sebastian Shaw and Robert Newton in two splendid dramatic characterisations and Ann Todd at long last getting an opportunity to play an intelligent part in a film and doing so with great distinction. But it is Edmund Lowe as the detective who takes charge of the drama and gives it zest. He plays with polish and punch.Upon the film's American release as
Murder on Diamond Row, critic
Frank S. Nugent of
The New York Times, wrote: "Rarely have we seen a murder out with less suspense or mystification. ... The lighting is poor, Tamara Desni's song and dance sequences are third rate and the cast—with the exception of Mr. Lowe and Alastair Sim as a 'journalist'—is hardly worth mentioning. I say, Mr. Korda, this won't do, you know." ==See also==