According to the 19 May 1917 Motion Picture News, director William Worthington had just completed The Clean-Up at Universal City. It was one of several 1917 films that Franklyn Farnum and Brownie Vernon made together for Bluebird. Their previous two pictures, both directed by Worthington, were Bringing Home Father and The Car of Chance (see entries). Brownie was sometimes billed as Agnes Vernon.
       The November 1917 Photoplay pointed out the film's "sad discrepancies," saying, "There are such blemishes as the hero, right on Main street before the town's collection of tabbies, kissing the nice girl, and the palm trees that flourish ungeographically along the streets of the Illinois town. Even the refreshing naturalness of Miss Vernon, and the cleverness of the idea cannot blot out completely the plain carelessness that admits of such lack of care and common sense." Variety agreed: "The film is supposed to have its locale in Weston, Ill. Throughout the picture one sees palms and rich foliage bespeaking of California or Florida scenery, and on the machines used one sees California state licenses." Variety also pointed out that the hero, an advance man for a burlesque revue who normally would have arrived a day or so ahead of the traveling show, "must have been about two or three weeks ahead, with time to burn" in town. It further complained that there "was no excuse of the robbery, and it was very poorly staged anyway....The picture needs revision and some consistency inserted into the general direction."
       The 29 July 1917 Los Angeles Times reported that The Clean-Up was being featured at the Superba that week, accompanied by "sensational views of the Russian revolution, showing the rioting and anarchy that prevailed in Petrograd when the ruling dynasty was overthrown." The October Revolution, during which the Bolsheviks took over, was still a few months away.
       According to the Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database, this film is extant.