CRADLE WILL ROCK is an example of too much going on which comes close to ruining a movie . You really do get the impression that director Tim Robbins has during the production of the movie been receiving phone calls from his socially aware friends pleading politely that they be given a part . Being a very nice man ( Has anyone ever said anything bad about Robbins the person ? ) the director hasn't had the cruel common sense to say " Sorry but we've got everything we need for the project " instead he's replied " Okay I'll get the writers to write you a part "
This is the problem with CRADLE WILL ROCK . We could have had a very memorable biopic of Orson Welles as a struggling actor in a New York theatre company in the 1930s , or we could have had a movie pointing out that it wasn't just Joe McCarthy's UnAmerican congressional hearings that ruined artistic careers , but the whole storyline becomes swamped and ultimately drowned with little character episodes that don't really lead to a bigger picture . Of course some of the subplots will appeal to a lot of people and I was thoroughly entertained by the sub story of Bill Murray's ventriloquist act being stolen by the two homosexuals but you do find yourself wishing that your favourite sub story had taken up more screen time with other subplots being eliminated totally at script stage . A very good example of less being more
This is the problem with CRADLE WILL ROCK . We could have had a very memorable biopic of Orson Welles as a struggling actor in a New York theatre company in the 1930s , or we could have had a movie pointing out that it wasn't just Joe McCarthy's UnAmerican congressional hearings that ruined artistic careers , but the whole storyline becomes swamped and ultimately drowned with little character episodes that don't really lead to a bigger picture . Of course some of the subplots will appeal to a lot of people and I was thoroughly entertained by the sub story of Bill Murray's ventriloquist act being stolen by the two homosexuals but you do find yourself wishing that your favourite sub story had taken up more screen time with other subplots being eliminated totally at script stage . A very good example of less being more