The Moon Is Blue - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times observed it "is not outstanding, either as a romance or as film. The wit of Mr. Herbert . . . is turned almost wholly on his freeness with the startling idea or phrase, as glibly tossed off (for the most part) by a young lady who appears a wide-eyed child. And Otto Preminger's lifting of the play from the stage to the screen is much too rigidly respectful of its conversational form. As a consequence, the movement is restricted and the talk is exceedingly long. At times, it gets awfully tedious, considering its limited range."

TIME Magazine found the film to be pleasant.

The Catholic Legion of Decency gave the movie a "C", "Condemned" rating, despite giving the original play a milder "B", "Unobjectionable for adults" rating.

In his review of the DVD release of the film, Tim Purtell of Entertainment Weekly called the film a "trifle" that "seems overly talky and slight".

Read more about this topic:  The Moon Is Blue

Famous quotes containing the words critical and/or reception:

    I know that I will always be expected to have extra insight into black texts—especially texts by black women. A working-class Jewish woman from Brooklyn could become an expert on Shakespeare or Baudelaire, my students seemed to believe, if she mastered the language, the texts, and the critical literature. But they would not grant that a middle-class white man could ever be a trusted authority on Toni Morrison.
    Claire Oberon Garcia, African American scholar and educator. Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B2 (July 27, 1994)

    To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)