Entertainment Weekly

The courtroom scene that opens the movie is both exciting and technically marvelous, cleverly integrating flashbacks to clearly communicate the misfortune the main character has endured. The domestic melodrama that follows isn't as flashy or fast-paced, but it's perfectly fine, highlighting the cruelty of the wealthy class.

TV Guide Magazine

Adapted from the play by Noel Coward, this dissection of the prejudices of English country artistocrats shows Alfred Hitchcock in fine early form.

Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas

Although there's no suspense, it is in fact a real Hitchcock movie in that in it, his fifth picture, he already displays his unique grasp of the camera's storytelling possibilities. [13 May 1996, p.F6]

Collider

The 2008 remake of Easy Virtue starring Jessica Biel and Colin Firth, is a lot livelier and more entertaining, but the original is worth watching, particularly to note the difference in the portrayal of the female lead character.

Time Out by Anna Smith

Though occasional acerbic touches remain, the sections that are drawn directly from the original remain hampered by the loss of Coward's dialogue. But the first half of the film, an addition detailing events only described in the play, is pure Hitchcock, its combination of conciseness and idiosyncrasy demonstrating his mastery of silent narration.

The Telegraph by Tim Robey

Not a hugely comfortable fit for the silent treatment, Noël Coward's play might have transferred better in the stagey confines of the early sound era. [14 Jul 2012]