Any time a mainstream movie comes out about a “classical” or “semi-classical” composer, the new music community should head for the box office, since such occurrences are few and far between. With this in mind, the recent release of the film Cradle Will Rock, with its subject the musical-opera The Cradle Will Rock, by Marc Blitzstein, should be recommended as more than just a “token” composer representation. It is quite a fine film.
Using a star-studded cast, this film compresses characterizations of several figures of the time into believable vignettes. Particularly convincing are John Cusak as Nelson Rockefeller, Ruben Blades as Diego Rivera and Blitzstein himself, played by Hank Azaria. I swear I’ve known composers who act exactly like this Blitzstein so, in one respect, the film is uncannily on the Marc. (Literally)

I was concerned that perhaps Orson Wells, portrayed by Angus MacFadyen was a bit overblown, even for a personage so young and considered so flamboyant in his day. But, the John Houseman portrayal by Cary Elwes seems convincing and, perhaps best of all, Cherry Jones, who plays Hallie Flanagan, the reasonable and informed director of the WPA’s Federal Theater Project. The actor William Duell does a fine supporting job as the butler [well, OK, we know him personally]. A humorous sub-plot, concerning an anti-communist ventriloquist played by Bill Murray, is entertaining.

There are two entirely fictitious characters that have been created, suspiciously, to showcase the talents of Vanessa Redgrave and Susan Sarandon. The former plays a British countess, who was one of the supporters of the production despite her “elitist” background. The latter plays Margherita Sarfatti, an Italian propagandist, who is a friend, paradoxically, of both Mussolini and Diego Rivera.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this film is the cinematography. There are many colorful and clever shots and the visual effect is emphasized in the sections dealing with the communist-leaning painter Diego Rivera and the problems with his commissioned mural for Rockefeller Center. If you recall, this is the mural which ended with his portrait of Vladimir Lenin and syphilis germs above the heads of the wealthy—the mural was later destroyed by Rockefeller and Rivera was paid in full.

Emily Watson does a fine job playing Olive Stanton, the pretty young singer who rises by luck from her job as a stagehand to play a prostitute in Blitzstein’s creation -- due to a preference by Orson Welles.

While it is true that much of the film contains rather short vignettes of well-known historical personages, I feel that the quality of the acting makes the majority of the characters convincing. The emotions of the time between labor and management are also effectively delineated -- although it is true there is a certain historical “distancing” -- it’s hard for a contemporary audience to really have a feel for the depression-era emotions, or of the appeal of communism in this country during the 1930’s. However, there was very little “slack time” in this movie -- it was almost always engrossing.

Finally, there is a fair amount of Blitzstein’s music, although I recommend staying through the entire credits at the end to hear several of Blitzstein’s songs from “Cradle.” (Five of these songs are available in the Marc Blitzstein Songbook recently published by Boosey & Hawkes). The final credits include a less than convincing “modernization” of the famous Blitzstein song “The Nickel Under the Foot” to electric guitar accompaniment and caterwauling (ah, our “culture” today!). That song is better performed two other times in the course of the film.

The final historical scene, where Blitzstein is compelled to sing and recite the entire opera with his performers standing and singing from the audience, is a triumph for Hank Azaria playing Blitzstein. This scene came off quite well. If you remember the circumstancces, funding for the opera was suddenly cut by the WPA theater project and the theatre padlocked. Ostensibly, this was a result of overall governmental cuts. However, the government’s disapproval of Blitzstein’s pro-union (and, to several on the governmental committee—pro-Communist) stance cast a suspicious light on the selection of this particular show for closing. If you recall, the performers and audience simply walked uptown to another theater which had been secured as an alternative, and presented the opera in “sketch” form—Blitzstein playing the piano with characterizations and, in a surprise development, members of the cast gathering courage (after all, their future careers could be on the line) and joining from the audience in their assigned roles.

All this came off exceptionally in the film, and John Turturro did a great job as the male lead, a cast member of Italian descent who is first intimidated due to his straitened circumstances and job prospects, but who joins Olive Stanton and others in the rousing performance of “Cradle.” This is another “created” character, based upon the role played by Howard da Silva, one of the greatest Jewish actors of all time.

Rather than spoiling the ending, I will say that the cinematographer triumphed by using New York as an axis and bringing us into the present day. However, is this parallel really accurate? I can’t imagine an arts institution threatened today with closure through censorship of “sensational” content, can you? (Ahem...)

Joseph Pehrson