I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

too many historical inaccuracies. the movie is set in 19371. fascism wasn't anti-semitic until the mid thirties, and the first racial laws were passed in 1938 on account of the pressing ideological pull of the dominant ally, Nazi Germany. Hitler needed the Italians to get on par with the racial discrimination, otherwise he couldn't justify to the Aryan German people being allied with an inferior people, and all the propaganda efforts put into making the Germans feel as a unite comradeship against their many inferior enemies would promptly fail its purpose. Mussolini obediently submitted to his requests and promulgated the race manifesto, despite counting many Jews among his friends and acquaintances himself, like his ex lover the writer Margherita Sarfatti2. Margherita Sarfatti was a strong supporter of Mussolini, but that changed when the racial laws were passed. She soon left the fascist party and went to Argentina. So if she ever went to the USA to promote Mussolini, this was surely before the regime turned anti-semitic.3. Italy and Germany did not attack Spain. They aided and military and politically supported the nationalist rebels leaded by Franco, who tried a coup during the civil war to restore a conservative regime which had been subverted by the late socialist government and numerous anarchist riots. IE Spain was already a mess. Many Italian Marxists, communists and socialists also went and fought in Spain alongside the republican forces - which were aided by the URSS - against the falangistas and the fascist regular troops. 4. Rivera painted that mural in 1933, so all dates and facts happening in the movie mismatch.5. In my understanding there was wide sympathy and support for Italian fascism in the American parlors, which isn't as apparent watching the movie. They favored fascism in juxtaposition to communism, as the latter was founded on class conflict, and the first on induced/enforced social peace and corporatism - which was already part of the American culture and economy, although in a more liberal form (and it still is). The fascist ideology found ground in the frightened middle and upper classes in all of the world, as the unions were getting stronger and the rich were scared of a Marxist revolution.

movie with an excellent outstanding all-star cast... Basically it tries to illustrate the traps and pitfalls in the never-ending war between art, politics and money. Art (as is usually the case) being the preferred hero, but realistically portrayed as being almost impossible to hold down - and if one does manage to curtail the "art", it usually is at a loss for society as a whole. However traditional union stubbornness is also frowned upon in the movie.The movie tries to see the events and the multitude of characters involved from a sort of detached perspective which makes it a little bit difficult to get close to any of the characters. Many of the side-stories (at least 8) could easily occupy an entire movie of its own, but I give credit for the effort in trying to tie it all together.For me the Rivera versus Rockefeller part is the most poignant - That Rockefeller could even think that hiring a well-known socialist sympathizer as Rivera without doing something subversive is just both hilariously funny and naive. One could argue that making the joke a little bit less obvious would have saved a great piece of art, but I guess thats very typical of many artists.All in all a very fascinating slice of a time-period, but a little bit too fragmented to really score a bullseye in my view.

I suppose I loved this film because I was in the first British production Of The Cradle Will Rock at London's Unity Theatre in 1951 and the film brought back poignant memories of my salad days. Our production was brought about by a phonograph record which described the events in the film, the theatre lock out and the success of John Houseman and Orson Wells in getting it on stage. We loved the music and Bill Owen directed it for a very successful production. It's so rare these days to get an adult film in cinemas that this was a rare treat. My only regret is that so much of the wonderful music and especially the wonderful lyrics in the original show were either omitted or truncated. I only wish that some film producer had the courage (and the money)to make a film version of the original show. So much of it is still apposite today, like Reverend Salvation's religious justification for an unnecessary war.

This is more the story of an era rather than the story of a play. The WPA was one of Franklin Roosevelts greatest achievements in an era when not too many people felt great. The federal theatre project was one arm of the WPA. Welle's Mercury theater was part of the FTA. This movie was extremely well researched. Angus McFayden does a great job as Welles. Countering him is Cary Elwes as John Houseman. We recently had this theatre treasure come to us as Professor Kingsfield in "The Paper Chase" film and TV series. Will Geer, part of Welles's group was the grandfather in "The Waltons". Viewers will get a wonderful rendering of a largely forgotten Musical by Marc Blitztein and Bertholt Brecht. "The cradle will rock" is a pro-worker anti-big business piece that rocked the theatre going world in an era where Big Business was largely responsible for the working man's woes. Interwoven within the basic plot of the composition and production of this play are subplots dealing with Mexican painter Diego Rivera (some of whose murals are visible even today) and art dealings by Musolini's mistress.This is a very compelling film well directed and acted. A must see for musical theater students, and just about everyone else.