WELL-INTENTIONED ROBBINS DELIVERS AN EMPTY 'CRADLE'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

Tim Robbins' unbearably earnest new movie, ``Cradle Will Rock,'' is full of good intentions and bad filmmaking. In attempting to tell the true story of Orson Welles' 1937 production of a leftish musical, Robbins gets the facts right, but fails to deliver them in a manner that will make anyone care. Flat and clunky, the film ends up being as oppressive as the capitalist barons it seeks to demonize.

The actual story itself is a fascinating piece of theater history and pre-McCarthy hysteria. The government-funded Federal Theater Project was an outgrowth of FDR's efforts to put people back to work even if the unemployed were only actors. Among the shows the Project produced was a pro-labor musical called ``Cradle Will Rock.'' Orson Welles, then 22, rehearsed the show, but never had the chance to actually stage it because the government shut down the theater and barred the actors from appearing.

But you know show-business folk. The show must go on. Unfortunately, ``Cradle Will Rock'' itself goes on and on and on, with far too many sketchily drawn characters and one subplot that has no business being in the movie. Robbins roughly moves from the theater world to the lobby of Rockefeller Center, where Nelson Rockefeller (John Cusack, thoroughly unconvincing) has commissioned Mexican artist Diego Rivera (Ruben Blades) to paint a mural. Rivera complies, but irks Rockefeller by going crazy with pro-communism depictions.

Robbins tries to tie all this together (along with a head-scratching riff on the death of vaudeville) into a meditation on corporate and government censorship. That's a tall order to pull off, and Robbins, who also wrote the movie, simply hasn't come up with a coherent enough style or story to make it work. The movie shifts abruptly in tone, maudlin at one moment, boisterous the next. It only becomes involving toward the end when ``Cradle's'' actors threaten to defy government orders and present their show. But by then, you've already mentally given the proceedings the proverbial hook.

``Cradle'' is full of fine actors, but many of them (like Cusack) simply aren't right for their roles. Among the misbegotten: Susan Sarandon as an Italian propagandist selling Da Vincis to pay for Mussolini's saber rattling; Bill Murray as an alcoholic ventriloquist; and Angus Macfadyen, who turns Welles into a cartoon hambone. Emily Watson, Joan Cusack and Hank Azaria manage a few fine moments between them, but their hands are mostly tied by the windy script.

Robbins has made two fine movies (``Dead Man Walking'' and ``Bob Roberts''), but those films didn't have the scope or ambition of this film. Here, his lofty ambitions have stretched him thin, producing a ``Cradle'' that will most likely rock you to sleep.

The facts

The film: ``Cradle Will Rock.''

The stars: Hank Azaria, Ruben Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Angus Macfadyen, Bill Murray, Susan Sarandon, Emily Watson.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Tim Robbins. Released by Touchstone Pictures.

Running time: Two hours, five minutes.

Playing: AMC Century 14 in Century City; Hollywood Cineplex Odeon Showcase; Mann Criterion 6 in Santa Monica; Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena.

Our rating: Two stars.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Cary Elwes, left, Hank Azaria and Angus Macfadyen, the latter portraying Orson Welles, in Tim Robbins ``Cradle Will Rock.''