Men in White opened to rave reviews in 1933. In The Nation, Joseph Wood Krutch called it an "extraordinary production of an extraordinary play." This "genuine work of art," Krutch lauded, "furnishes an experience which is thrilling and absorbing." New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote two glowing reviews of what he called "a good, brave play" within one week's timespan. He found that the play was "warm with life and high in aspiration." Arthur Pollock wrote in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle that the play "shines continuously with a steady intelligence." Most of these reviewers' contemporaries agreed; ten of twelve critics named Men in White as one of the best plays of the year, and it went on to win the Pulitzer Prize.

John Mason Brown was the primary voice of dissent, asserting in the New York Evening Post that the play was "piffling" and "mildewed in...