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Features: DVD, Aspect Ratio 2.35:1, Dolby Digital (5.1)
As labor strikes break out throughout the country during the 1930's, the art and theater world of New York City is a growing cultural revolution. Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusak) commissions Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Rueben Blades) to paint the lobby of Rockefeller Center while Italian propagandist Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon) gives Da Vincis to millionaires who help fund the Mussolini war effort. An alcoholic ventriloquist (Bill Murray) tries to rid his vaudeville troupe of communists while a 22-year-old Orson Welles defies a court order and performs his controversial musical Cradle Will Rock.
"Robbins covers [the material] in a way that will be fascinating to people who know the period..." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"...clearly the work of an accomplished and sure-handed filmmaker." James Berardinelli's ReelViews
"One of the year's most entertaining movies." USA Today
Editor's Note
While the rich are funding Mussolini's war efforts by purchasing ill-gotten masterpieces from fascist Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon), the poor, like Olive Stanton (Emily Watson), are singing on the street for a nickel. In an unlikely partnership, Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) commissions anti-capitalism artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to paint a mural. Meanwhile, Mark Blitzstein (Hank Azaria) is inspired to write a pro-union musical that is closed before it opens when Congress begins to investigate the Federal Theater Project. Based on actual events in the 1930s, writer-director Tim Robbins boldly tackles politics, the arts, and a cultural revolution.
Plot Summary
Writer-director Tim Robbins weaves together historical and fictional characters dealing with the relationship between politics and the arts and the fear of communism so prevalent in the first half of the 20th century. Set in New York City in the 1930s, the action is based around a pro-union musical, CRADLE WILL ROCK, written by Mark Blitzstein (Hank Azaria). A young Orson Welles (Angus MacFadyen), as part of the Federal Theater Project, is directing Blitzstein's musical. This branch of the Works Progress Administration, established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and intended to provide jobs for unemployed Americans following the depression, and its director, Hallie Flanagan (Cherry Jones), come under fire in congressional hearings when communist influence is suspected. Politics, wealth, and the arts make strange bedfellows as fascist Margherita Sarfatti (Susan Sarandon) sells masterpieces to millionaires to fund Mussolini's war effort, Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack) commissions anti-capitalist artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to paint a mural, and Countess LaGrange (Vanessa Redgrave) becomes involved in the theater company's hijinks. Ultimately, Robbins's star-studded tour de force is a tribute to the courageous individuals who refused to be silenced by censorship.
| Features | Featurette | | Widescreen Version | | English 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital | | Scene Access | | Theatrical Trailer | | Interactive Menus |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Buena Vista |
| Release Date: 5/9/2006 |
| Running Time: 134 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1999 | | Catalog ID: 18288 | | UPC: 00717951004765 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Cannes Film Festival (1999) | | | Tim Robbins, Nominee, Golden Palm |
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| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
"...A timely rallying cry against censorship....Robbins is a world-class rabble-rouser whose playful style doesn't hide his serious intent..." 01/20/2000 p.63-4Movieline's Hollywood Life
"Writer/director Tim Robbins has crafted an ambitous, vibrant ensemble movie..." p.40 Premiere
"...A vivid and richly entertaining pageant..." -- 4 out of 5 stars 06/01/2000 p.101 Los Angeles Times
"...Smart and pleasingly ambition....Jones' controlled energy and charisma simultaneously drive the film and ground it in a reality..." 12/08/1999 p.C1 Chicago Sun-Times
"...Sweeping, ambitious....There is a lot of material to cover here, and Robbins covers it in a way that will be fascinating to people who know the period..." 12/24/1999 p.29 James Berardinelli's ReelViews 8 of 10
A combination screwball comedy and period piece drama, the film makes us laugh while presenting themes that are as relevant today as they were six decades ago. Intertwining the stories of more than a dozen characters and using a style that variously recalls the work of Preston Sturges, Orson Welles, and Robert Altman, Robbins generates a pace that is often frantic. Cradle Will Rock is not without its flaws--but, as always, it's far more agreeable to experience a movie that occasionally stumbles because the filmmaker is ambitious, as opposed to the opposite.
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