Lee Tracy was hailed for his performance as a fiery young congressman who sets to work in dangerous territory, pitting himself against the corrupt political boss who literally controls Washington and fancies himself a dictator on the order of Mussolini or Stalin. Despite a certain melodrama of characterization, the film is not without its political subtleties, touching on the role of big business in Washington, logrolling in Congress, American investments abroad, and Bonus Marchers in the Capitol. It's a tough film in which, as the New York Times diligently notes, “there are two suicides and one murder, the latter being committed with extraordinary sang-froid.” Calling it a “snappy, pre-code movie, something of a forerunner to the same studio's much later Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (though without Capra's sentiment),” William K. Everson adds: “1932 was an election year, and Hollywood was quick to cash in on that with a number of melodramas and satires that were far from kind to the political arena, and took graft and inefficiency pretty much for granted.”