Cradle Will Rock Soundtrack (Page 3)

The next strong musical component of Cradle Will Rock deals with time. "Sound also permits the filmmaker to represent time in various ways" and Robbins very cleverly links music with time. Specifically, there are two distinct scenes that are executed in the exact same manner. Both take place when there is a 'Four Months Later' time adjustment, and both deal with identical character situations. The first transition shows the composer playing one of his songs by himself in his room, and while the screen switches to a new shot 'Four Months Later' of him auditioning his piece for a theater group, his song is uninterrupted and flows fluidly from shot to shot. The next scene is almost identical in nature showing a stagehand singing in an audition for the musical and 'Four Months Later' showing here singing in a dress rehearsal before opening night. Both transitions allow Robbins to make a rather large time jump without having to explain the proceedings of the past four months. The music helped maintain the fluidness of the story and keeps the film focused directly where it left off.

While all of these scenes were very intriguing in their use of music, there was one scene in particular that stood out to me. This scene deals with an interesting mix of musical space and fidelity that together "play with our expectations about sounds". The composer of the musical is set wandering the streets searching for inspiration. He finds himself sitting in front of a protest gathering and inspiration suddenly hits. He starts to play 'air piano' as a riot breaks out, his ideas and his music are flowing as he beats away at his imaginary keyboard. The music continues as the camera surveys the surrounding scene, and upon its return, he is playing a real piano.

Continue to page 4 of Cradle Will Rock Soundtrack

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