“One of the best films of all time!”
— Cinémathèque Royale, Brussels

“A stylistically dazzling adaptation of Mann's satirical novel.”
— Tate Modern, London

“A masterpiece. An exceptional film. An astonishing film satire, surprisingly current.”
— Ralf Schenk, film historian

“...explored the authoritarian, nationalistic, and sycophantic character of bourgeois citizens in imperial Germany.”
— Heide Fehrenbach, Cinema in Democratizing Germany

“Because of the film’s high-profile, Staudte was able to use stylized cinematic techniques that in a lesser production may have been critiqued as formalist, including Eisenstein- and Pudowkin-inspired montage sequences, extreme high and low camera angles that emphasize power differentials, as well as a voice-over commentary.”

—Reinhild Steingröver, Directory of World Cinema, Germany 2