Cradle
Will Rock is the story of the end of federal government sponsored
dramatic arts program in the 30’s. The title of the movie is also the
title of a play that was shut down under federal order with troops sent to
enforce the edict. The sin of the play was apparently that it presented a
pro-worker, anti-big industry greed philosophy that some thought smacked
of espousing communism. Nearly every social outcry in the depression laden
US could be misconstrued as communist propaganda and therefore excessively
targeted by Congressional investigators.
Ultimately, Cradle Will Rock is the story of
performers, the lovers of theater art; the homeless and hungry as well as
the privileged. They live for their art and follow their passion
regardless of the consequences. With the wonderful ensemble cast including
Emily Watson, John Torturro, Bill Murray, and Susan Sarandon, Cradle
Will Rock attempts to develop complex social circumstances of the
time, from the rich who buy masterpiece paintings to improve their image
to the struggling playwright who spends many sleepless nights trying to
get it right.
Unfortunately, the story suffers from the overwhelming
undertaking of pinning down the social milieu. To accomplish that, the
story follows three different groups. First, there are the rich
businessmen who are supporting the fascists to fight the spreading of
communism. The second group features the government theater program
designed to endorse the production of plays and thus provide jobs for
professional performers. The third group is Orson Welles’s theater
group, which takes on the controversial play Cradle Will Rock. These
subplots develop with drawn out dialogue, episodic segments, and at best
sketchy characters. Except for the momentous, but somewhat clichéd climax
of the play’s opening despite the government ban, the story is flat,
tedious, and unengaging.
We hoped for a greater sense of the impact of drama,
art, and government sponsorship on the characters. Too many characters and
subplots make it difficult to experience what was happening in the hearts
and minds of the people involved.
Frankly, though the film is clearly intended as support
for the efforts to continue the current sponsorship of the arts through
the much beleaguered National Endowment for the Arts, even at that, the
case was poorly made.
