Cradle Will Rock

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For the original 1937 musical, see The Cradle Will Rock.

Cradle Will Rock chronicles the process and events that surrounded the production of the original 1937 musical by Marc Blitzstein. Tim Robbins, in his third film as director, adapts history to create this fictionalized account of the original production, bringing in other stories of the time to produce this commentary on the role of art and power in the 1930’s. In telling the story of The Cradle Will Rock, a leftist labor musical that was sponsored by the Federal Theater Project (FTP), only to be banned from going on after the Works Progress Administration (WPA) cut the project and diverted its funds elsewhere, Robbins is able to tie in issues such as labor unrest, the repression of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, as well as questions the role and value of art in such a tumultuous time.

The film was released in conjunction with a book which Robbins put together to provide a more in-depth look at the history of the time in which the film is set. The book includes the film’s script, accompanied by essays and pictures describing the people, events and themes that are the basis for the film.

More than that, Cradle Will Rock was meant to be Welles's last film as a director. It went into pre-production in 1983 (with Rupert Everett on board to play Welles) before the backers pulled out and the production collapsed.

Contents

1 Plot summary
2 Historical context
3 Response
4 Bibliography
5 External links

Plot summary

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film begins with one long tracking shot that focused on a destitute young woman, who is sleeping illegally in a theater, being awoken and kicked out. The shot continues as she slowly walks down the street following the sound of the song Nickel Under My Foot, which leads her to the building where the song is being played. The camera pans up the side of the building and moves inside where we are introduced to the playwright Marc Blitzstein (Hank Azaria) attempting to write the songs and put together the musical The Cradle Will Rock. Acting as Blitzstein’s conscience/mentor is an imaginary Bertolt Brecht, a radical playwright who stressed the importance of breaking down the wall between the audience and actors, and a fitting character for this story of the production of Cradle Will Rock, which did just that.

The film continues, providing a picture of life in the 1930’s where some people wait in endless unemployment lines attempting to get work, while others enjoy their wealth engaging in parties and purchases of expensive works of art. As the musical nears production, the WPA cuts the budget for the FTP, and puts a halt to all new productions. This announcement comes following the House Committee on Un-American Activities’ questioning of many of those involved in the FTP, and the musical itself due to its leftist themes around labor and union organizing. Despite being cancelled, the director, Orson Welles (Angus Macfadyen) and producer, John Houseman (Cary Elwes), lead the cast to another theater that they were able to secure at the last minute. The cast is forbidden to perform by their union, so Blitzstein takes the stage alone at an upright piano to perform the show himself, only to be joined by many of the cast members who deliver their lines from the audience. Robbins juxtaposes this final triumphant moment of the theater with images of the destruction of a mural commissioned by Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) because the artist, Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades), refused to remove the image of Lenin’s face from the piece. In tying together stories of labor issues and steel strikes, censorship in painting and theater, and the disparities of wealth and power, Robbins is able to paint a picture of the 1930s that goes beyond simply recounting past events and questions the boundaries between art, power and politics. Furthermore, Robbins attempts to link these issues to the present day through the final shot of the film. The camera follows a mock funeral procession for the FTP as it marches into Times Square only to pan up from this scene to a shot of the high rises and neon billboards that stand there today.

Historical context

This film takes place in the 1930s during the Great Depression. It examines the history of the famous production of the musical The Cradle Will Rock, and through this plot explores issues of censorship both within the Federal Theater Project and elsewhere. It is a comment not only on the control of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, but also on the stark contrasts of wealth and poverty during the Depression. The film does not follow history chronologically, but instead incorporates events that took place over a few years time, thus bending facts to make the labor strikes against Little Steel (1939) happen along with the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935) and the HUAC’s assault on the Federal Theater Project (1937) (Weales 2000).

Response

While the original production of The Cradle Will Rock was stated to be “The most exciting evening of theater this New York generation has seen” (MacLeish, quoted in Cole 2000), many critics did not feel the same about Robbins’ reproduction of the event for film. While some have praised the film as an astute commentary on censorship and the lines between art and life (Cole 2000), others have criticized the piece for attempting to bring too many themes together into one story, and thus losing the power of the original context altogether (Alleva 2000; Weales 2000).

Bibliography

Alleva, R. (2000) Ah, The Theater. Commonweal. 127(5) p. 21,

Cole, S. (2000) Cradle Will Rock. The American Historical Review. 105(4) pp. 1440-1441.

Weales, G. (2000) Tim Robbins Presents Cradle Will Rock, the Movie and The Moment. American Theatre. 17(4) p. 47

External links

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