It was theatrically released by LVN Pictures on March 20, 1956 but it didn't get well at the box office and despite the failure, it became Avellana's cinematic masterpieces and one of the greatest Filipino films ever made due to its acclaim at the awards and positive reviews and given importance by film critics and scholars in modern times. The film was selected as the Philippine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 29th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. The film won the Golden Harvest for Best Film Award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival in British Hong Kong.