Not a shot is wasted, [Losey's] control over his material, his actors, and his visuals is more rigorous and more strikingly personal than before. In The Criminal he has at last fought his way to the top.

A cold-hearted portrait of the consequences reaped from hot-blooded follies.

Even though the physical violence is kept to a minimum, Losey uses the sound of a riot to help feed the mounting oppression, mirroring the psychological turmoil within Bannion himself.

Neither a dynamic central performance, nor a director and script-writer of individual talent, can conceal the frayed conventions of a story-line largely irrelevant to this film's main purpose.