Film.com critic Eric D. Snider said that by 1931, most Hollywood filmmakers either embraced talking pictures, resigned themselves to their inevitability, or just gave up making movies, yet Chaplin held firm with his vision in this project.
Ob premieri filma je bil Chaplin že precej starejši in sredi novega dejanja pravne bitke z bivšo ženo Lito Grey, ekonomska in politična klima v svetu pa se je spremenila.