The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Much of the story is never completely explained in the film. Noah Beery is good as the crook tracking down crooks, and proves the superiority of Chicago as the training ground for the trade. The rest of the cast is adequate and James Harcourt does well as the match-seller with £100 to spend. An ordinary film with some quite good moments."[3]
Kine Weekly wrote: "Comedy crime drama, a tedious rigmarole, flitting between the serious and the comic to no apparent purpose. A gangster element is introduced for the benefit of Noah Beery, but it is too pale an imitation of the real thing to get the picture anywhere. Here entertainment is a negligible quantity. ... Kathleen Kelly is not unattractive as the manicurist, but the rest of the players are a poor, insignificant lot. The story is unnecessarily complicated and the acting is not so hot, but the weakest department of all is the direction. The producer so quickly loses touch with the many threads that it is not long before thrills poach on comedy and comedy on thrills, and the film degenerates into a hopeless mess. The picture's appeal is to say the least, obscure."[4]
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", calling it a "confusing thriller"[5]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "This somewhat confused thriller is feeble, forgettable and largely forgotten."[6]
References
^"The Avenging Hand". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
.png)
