"Barrymore material at its best--almost hand-tailored for him by his friend Gene Fowler, even if it does give him scenes and characteristics almost too painfully reflective of his own personal life and problems. Based on the career of the famous lawyer Fallon...it gives Barrymore full rein for deliberate theatrics (as in the several dynamic if hardly legal courtroom episodes), for wry comedy (a delightful drunken episode) and for those moments of almost unbearably affecting pathos which nobody could do as well as Barrymore.... If not at his finest, Barrymore is still very good indeed--and moreover seems to be enjoying the role--so that he completely transcends the somewhat dated aspects of the rest of the film.... Not that the non-Barrymore aspects are dull: its political chicaneries certainly make it a topical movie... The script continually offers gutsy situations and top-notch lines...." William K. Everson