A little more expensive, and successful, is Cradle Will Rock. Written and directed by Tim Robbins, it’s the “(mostly) true story” of a 1936 stage musical, funded by a precursor to the National Endowment for the Arts, that was banned before its first performance. Boasting a dream-team cast including John and Joan Cusack, Emily Watson, Hank Azaria, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Ruben Blades, Jack Black, and John Turturro, this film gives a revealing look at the colliding anti-Fascist, anti-Communist, pro-labor, pro-business sentiments of the time, and how various historical personages such as Orson Welles, John Houseman, and Nelson Rockefeller got wrapped up in a controversy that ultimately found armed soldiers barring entrance to a New York theater. The period details are interesting, and the acting is first-rate, but the style is sometimes rather coolly distant, at least until a rousing finale. If you’re remotely interested in the personnel or the subject of government interference in and support of the arts, then the shortcomings of Cradle Will Rock probably won’t preclude your enjoying it. C+

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