Close Up (Jul-Nov 1927)

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Jul-Nov 1927
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
000229
Language:
English
Subjects:
motion pictures, Motion pictures -- Periodicals
Collection:
Switzerland, Early Cinema, and Global Cinema
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
Library of Congress, MBRS, Moving Image Section
Sponsor:
Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
As an active film magazine, CLOSE UP lasted only a short time, from 1927 to 1933. Yet the legacy of this English-language periodical, which was published in Switzerland, continues to matter. Edited by Bryher and her husband Kenneth Macpherson, CLOSE UP became THE magazine for energetic debates about the nature of cinema and manifestos imagining new forms of filmmaking and spectatorship. The magazine published articles by filmmakers, such as Sergei Eisenstein, and female literary modernists, such as H.D. and Gertrude Stein. As film scholar Anne Friedberg explains in the anthology CLOSE-UP, 1927-1933: CINEMA & MODERNISM, 'CLOSE UP became the model for a certain type of writing about film -- writing that was theoretically astute, politically incisive, critical of films that were simply 'entertainment.' For six and a half years, CLOSE UP maintained a forum for a broad variety of ideas about the cinema; it never advocated a single direction of development, but rather posed alternatives to existing modes of production, consumption, and film style.' Like Friedberg's own writing, CLOSE UP continues to be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of film and media theory. -- Eric Hoyt, 2014
Date Added:
August 29, 2022
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CLOSE UP The producers and actors seem lifted from the ordinary rut, and almost forced to do their best ; perhaps because the fantastic scenario is so suited to the tremendous scope of the screen. Yet to-day we find Robinson directing " The Last Waltz", and Murneau in America. At any time such a state of affairs would be lamentable, but it is all the more so now. When we find ourselves in conversation with someone out of screen grace we tell them of "Destiny", "Warning Shadows", "Dr. Caligari","The Xibelungs". "Where can I see these films ?" asks the unbehever. Then we are compelled to explain that these fihns are no longer in general release, and the sceptic smiles discreetly. The last state of that man is ten times w^orse than the first. How we could do with another "Golem" to-day, when the eyes of the world are wandering in the direction of the screen ! Such a film, if the renter would give it a fair chance, would be acclaimed to-day where yesterday it would have passed unnoticed. To-day the public are fed to the teeth with the mechanical Hollywood fare that they themselves have helped to create. Such a film also w^ould convert those who have been tempted, by recent newspaper controversy and legislation, to look at the screen, but are looking at it dubiously, and are, in fact, preparing to turn their backs on it. Incidentally some of the screen's ardent apostles could do with a little encouragement in this shamefully arid period. Even if this new masterpiece storms the renter success 63