The film was hugely successful and widely praised in its time, though it's really nothing more than the old C.B. De Mille formula of titillation and moralizing--Roman orgies and Christian martyrs--with only a fraction of De Mille's showmanship.

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

The movie is made with boundless energy. Fellini stood here at the dividing point between the neorealism of his earlier films (like La Strada) and the carnival visuals of his extravagant later ones (Juliet of the Spirits, Amarcord'').

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

A brilliantly graphic estimation of a whole swath of society in sad decay and, eventually, a withering commentary upon the tragedy of the overcivilized. (Review of Original Release)

Bosley Crowther

The New York Times