While his acting career, frustratingly, keeps stalling in such cinematic backwaters as Arlington Road and Mission to Mars, Tim Robbins's reputation as a director continues to burgeon, writes David Parkinson.

Eschewing the intense intimacy of his acclaimed prison drama, Dead Man Walking, he returns to the politicised ensemble format of Bob Roberts with Cradle Will Rock, a period piece that has much to say about the difficulties of retaining artistic integrity in modern-day Hollywood. Scripted by Marc Blitzstein and funded by the radical Federal Theater Project, The Cradle Will Rock (1936) was a socialist musical that was denied a green light by the authorities on account of its left-wing sympathies. In this respect, according to Robbins's screenplay, it was no different from the children's pantomime The Eager Beavers (suppressed for its pro-workers stance) and Diego Rivera's revolutionary mural in the Rockefeller Center, because it fell victim to a politically motivated suppression of free artistic expression.

However, what sets Cradle apart is the fact that it was to be staged by whirlwind wunderkind Orson Welles whose all-black production of Macbeth had already sent shockwaves along the Great White Way. But while Welles and producer John Houseman exchange impossibly tart witticisms, their cast was as much intent on holding down a job as lighting a beacon of contention in the Depression gloom. Thus, Robbins's film is as delicate a balancing act as its title suggests. Fascist emissaries may have the ear of the powerbrokers and press barons may seek to starve public opinion of salient facts, but there were still artists striving to construct a theatre of social relevance and, although they were denied their moment in the spotlight, they couldn't be prevented from shouting their beliefs from the wings.

Often guilty of over-elaborating, and occasionally too admiring of its own ingenuity, this is still a passionately played picture, with none more impressive than Bill Murray, as the ventriloquist who, silenced by his pessimism, nevertheless, finds the courage to speak through his dummy and, thus, encourages others to stand up to the system.

*A version of this review appeared in The Oxford Times on May 5.