Critic Reviews
54
Metascore
Mixed or Average
positive
3(33%)
mixed
6(67%)
negative
0(0%)
Showing 9 Critic Reviews
80
Superbly adapted with blistering performances from Taylor and Hepburn.
78
The battles between the imperious Hepburn and the presumed-mad Taylor are pure theatricality, while sensitive shrink Clift observes it all and emotes.
70
An outrageous, melodramatic shocker touching on madness, homosexual prostitution, incest, disease and cannibalism, replete with enough imagery to sustain an American Lit seminar for months.
58
A deliciously bad film.
50
The cast packs enough sexual ambiguity to satisfy the most rabid Williams fan (not to mention a screenplay by Gore Vidal), but Mankiewicz leaves much of the innuendo unexplored—thankfully, perhaps.
50
It was the first time that homosexuality and cannibalism had ever been handled by a mainstream studio as a commercial venture. Let's hope that it remains the last time those two practices will be presented in tandem.
50
It has some very effective moments, but on the whole it fails to move.
40
Joseph L. Mankiewicz' direction is strained and sluggish, as is, indeed, the whole conceit of the drama. It should have been left to the off-Broadway stage.
40
They should never have allowed the audience so much time to think about what's going on: the short play turns into a ludicrous, lumbering horror movie.
