CRADLE WILL ROCK
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: In the 1930s art and politics
inextricably intertwine in this (mostly) true story
of big money interests fighting the WPA's Federal
Theater Project. Also retold is the tale of the
disagreement between Nelson Rockefeller and Diego
Rivera over the mural that Rivera painted for
Rockefeller Center. Tim Robbins, who both wrote
and directed captures a feel for the heady days
when American talent seemed to be blossoming but
when the mostly liberal sentiment of art was seen
as a threat to the wealthy who strongly influenced
the government. This film will certainly be in my
top three films of the year. Rating: 9 (0 to 10),
+3 (-4 to +4)
In the 1930S during the Great Depression massive numbers of Americans were out of work. In 1934 the number was 11 million. To cut unemployment and get people working again the Works Progress Administration was established. It eventually employed 8.5 million people to improve the infrastructure and culture of the country. Laborers built roads, bridges, parks, buildings, and airports. Artists were employed by the Federal Arts Project, The Federal Writers Project, and the Federal Theater Project. The Federal Theater Project (FTP) lasted from 1935 to 1939 when it was shut down by the House Committee on Un-American Activities for its left-leaning plays.
CRADLE WILL ROCK combines the stories of two incidents of the 1930s. In 1933 Nelson Rockefeller objected to the mural that Diego Rivera was creating for Rockefeller Center which depicted Lenin as a liberator. In 1937 Marc Blitzstein's play "The Cradle Will Rock" was to be produced under the aegis of the FTP staged by Orson Welles and John Houseman, but the government withdrew support with dramatic consequences.
The film begins with a homeless woman Olive Stanton (Emily Watson) catching some sleep behind the screen of a movie theater. The theater is showing a newsreel about the spread of Fascism in Europe, but how things are better and more optimistic in the US. Stanton clearly knows more about conditions in the US than the patrons of the theater. Chased from this shelter she looks for a job with the Federal Theater Project.
The FTP is an explosion of creative chaos presided over by the tireless Hallie Flanagan (Cherry Jones). She reads new plays, makes production assignments, and does a wealth of other jobs. We are soon introduced to Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen), John Houseman (Cary Elwes) putting on a creatively-staged production of Marlowe's DOCTOR FAUSTUS. They are also preparing a polemical play, "The Cradle Will Rock," for the FTP.
The wealthy also mix in with a strong interest in the arts. We meet Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack), an oil magnate more interested in art and Latin America than he is in petroleum. He has commissioned the admired Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to paint a mural for Rockefeller Center, the theme of which is to be "Man's Intelligence Controlling Nature."
But not everybody is happy with this flowering of creativity. Icy Hazel Huffman (Joan Cusack) and a frustrated vaudeville ventriloquist Tommy Crickshaw (Bill Murray) do not like the leftist message of many of the plays present. They are organizing to fight what they think is becoming a liberal establishment. The film chronicles their collision with the artists and playwrights they oppose.
The casting is quite good. Especially notable is the Angus Macfadyen impression of Orson Welles. Welles has now been portrayed by a number of different actors on the screen but never by someone who with so close a physical resemblance or who got the facial expressions down so well. Less familiar is John Houseman but Cary Elwes at least sounds a good deal like Houseman. Cherry Jones just sparkles as Hallie Flanagan.
The characters of CRADLE WILL ROCK are in a kettle with a seething stew of politics and art. Tim Robbins who wrote and directed, sees the events of this film to be the beginnings of the 1950s Congressional witch hunts for communists. It also provides much of the reason that even today there are few plays on Broadway with any real political meat. Art today is about colors and textures and not political ideas for the most part. Few works in art museums have strong political comment and much of Broadway is given over to fluffy plays with little political bite. Ironically Robbins makes a very clear statement that only some censorship is bad. Aldo Silvano (John Turturro) does not want to see "The Cradle Will Rock" be censored for its unpopular political message. Yet he is outraged when he hears his children singing a song that is sung by the Brown Shirts in Italy. In this case he is censoring his own children's singing of a Fascist song. That seems right, but where is the line to be drawn? Plays of this time could appeal to any political persuasion instead of having to appeal to people of every political persuasion as they do today. The wealthy and powerful do not want art to have messages that threaten their interests. The rich who have been the patrons of the arts do not what to have to choose between what is good for art and their own welfare.
The film is good entertainment. Is it accurate history? There is some distortion, certainly. Just having two art and political censorship events occurring at the same time instead of years apart leads one to believe that such clashes were more frequent than they really were. Robbins portrays the people who agree with his political viewpoint being likable, intelligent, artistically fulfilled people. Those who oppose artistic freedom are maladjusted neurotics if not out-and-out wackos. By leaving no doubt as to whom the viewer should credit as being in the right, Robbins talks down to his audience and demonstrates that he does not trust them to choose the correct side of the debate. One could ask if Lenin was the great liberator that Rivera wanted to portray, where are all the people who genuinely believe that he liberated them? History seems to have sided with Rockefeller.
While CRADLE WILL ROCK plays a little fast and loose with history, it still is an enjoyable watch and one of the best films of the year. I rate it a 9 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +3 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1999 Mark R. Leeper
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