THE CRADLE WILL ROCK
A Touchstone Pictures release

review by Joe Mauceri

SYNOPSIS - It is the 1930's. Labor strikes break out throughout the country, and New York City is a hotbed for cultural revolution. A 22-year-old Orson Welles is directing the Federal Theater group in a stage production of THE CRADLE WILL ROCK. The government tried to prevent the controversial musical from opening. Tim Robbins adds other historical elements: Nelson Rockefeller commissioning Mexican artist Diego Rivera to paint the lobby of Rockefeller Center, Margherita Sarfatti selling Da Vincis to millionaires to fund Mussolini's war effort; A ventriloquist attempting to rid his vaudeville company of communists; and the hearings that surround the controversy over the Federal Theater Fund. It is a foreshadowing of McCarthyism, but still an era when individual courage prevailed over censorship.

REVIEW - Tim Robbins is a big fan of Orson Welles. Robbins’ opening shot is clearly a homage to Welles’ style, and that is it. In fact, most of the film is shot flat, with an overabundance toward the end. Welles did write a screenplay using the title, but that story focused on Welles and the Mercury Theater. Robbins doesn’t focus chiefly on the details surrounding the play or its players. He brings in other subplots attempting to capture a sense of pre-World War II America. The structure of his narrative is a cross between the screwball comedies of the 1940's and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World.” Robbins injects a bit of fantasy into the plot as the playwright is torn between the ghosts of his wife and mentor. The filmmaker attempts to give all the characters equal screen time and neglects the details of the more interesting ones. Shot in New York City, Robbins does a wonderful job of creating and maintaining the illusion of New York in the late 1930's. The little touches show that THE CRADLE WILL ROCK is a labor of love

With so many characters, the performances become caricatures. They need to be larger then life in order for the audience to get a sense of whom these people were. Welles is presented as dynamo, and Blitzstein the tormented writer, and it forces the realistic ones into the background. The one complex character and memorable performance are Bill Murray as the vaudeville ventriloquist. I think this is the first time Murray has delivered such a diverse performance. This is definitely worthy of an Academy Award nomination. I was delightfully surprised by the energy level Robbins captured in the performance of the play. Unfortunately, he dilutes it with excess editing, cutting in shots from setups he is attempting to resolve. It is just too much. I feel he should have used those resolutions to build an energy level to propel the start of the play. He could have easily still cut in his closing shot by merging the exiting audience with the marchers. THE CRADLE WILL ROCK is an entertaining look at the volatile 1930's and the American attitudes prior to entering World War II. Robbins does an admirable job directing, but gets too heavy with the cutting at the end. A talented cast helps, but doesn’t propel the film to a level of greatness it had the potential to obtain. As a fan of Welles, I can easily point out that the film lacks universal audience appeal. THE CRADLE WILL ROCK will gain greater favor with the more intellectual, high brow audiences that remember Welles and the period.

OFFICIAL WEB SITE:
www.movies.go.com/cradlewillrock

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