"Miss Stanwyck's portrayal is as courageous as it is fine. Ignoring the flattery of makeup man and camera, she plays Stella as Mrs. Prouty drew her -- coarse, cheap, common, given to sleazy dresses, to undulations in her walk, to (with the aid of pads and extra layers of this and that) fatty degeneration of the profile. And yet magnificent as a mother." -- The New York Times

"If only to view Barbara Stanwyck's dramatic triumph as Stella Dallas, this picture should be seen. Playing this emotional mother role with power, understanding and restraint, she gives her best performance yet." -- Film Daily

"[Stanwyck's] Stella is more restrained and credible than Belle Bennett's in the silent version. She gives an underlying strength to a weak, fatuous woman that makes the portrayal vividly sympathetic and lends needed motivation to the tale. It is her best acting in years." -- New York Herald Tribune

"Barbara Stanwyck gives the best performance of her cinema career... Her pathetic moments are handsomely pointed up by underplaying of a kind she has never delivered heretofore. The picture is her vehicle throughout and the star comes through in every scene." -- Brooklyn Daily Eagle

"It is a notable personal triumph for one of the few really great directors of the screen." -- New York Herald Tribune

"Having always felt that Miss Stanwyck would prove herself one of the screen's finest actresses if given half a chance, this department is happy to report that in Stella Dallas she turns in a sensitive, beautifully shaded characterization and that there are moments of uncommon beauty in her playing." -- New York World Telegram

"Sneer if you will at the sentiment which is here. You will have to admit that Barbara Stanwyck as Stella Dallas is truly superb." -- The Daily Sketch (London)

"Stella Dallas is a formula film, a corny soap opera, manipulative as hell -- but it's done right. The movie isn't dated because Vidor went at his material with sincerity, affection and talent and because his star, Barbara Stanwyck, did the same." -- Frank Rich, The New York Times (in 1975)

"The picture is all Stanwyck's, and worth seeing for her brassy, touching, all-out performance (possibly her greatest), even if pictures about maternal love and self-sacrifice give you the heebie-jeebies." -- Pauline Kael (in 1982)

Awards and Honors -- STELLA DALLAS

Academy Award nominations: Best Actress (Barbara Stanwyck), Best Supporting Actress (Anne Shirley)

Compiled by Roger Fristoe