Close Up (Mar-Dec 1933)

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Mar-Dec 1933
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
000387
Language:
English
Subjects:
motion pictures, Motion pictures -- Periodicals
Collection:
Global Cinema, Switzerland, and Early 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:
November 07, 2023
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CLOSE UP 363 the Soviet and its leading citizens, Eisenstein hardly meant this lyrical ending." Well, the easiest way to answer that is to quote the text of Eisenstein's own scenario, officially submitted to the Mexican Government and approved. Page 28, headed " Epilogue," I quote : " Time and location — modern Mexico. Mexico of today on the ways of peace and prosperity . . . war of factories, the hissing of work-propellers, the whistles of work-plants, modern . . . civilized . . . industrial Mexico appears on the screen. LIFE !— highways, dams, railways . . . the bustle of a big city, new machinery, new houses, new people, aviators, chauffeurs, engineers, officers, technicians, students, agriculture experts and the nation's leaders, the President, generals, Secretaries of State departments." You will see that it is quite a catalogue of materials and that it is highly lyrical in tone. It was impossible to use all the material collected and provided by Eisenstein. We selected those items which seemed least " Fascist " in tone. We selected three buglers and three drummers of a firemen's band, boy and girl athletes, street celebrations and factories with glorified labour. We omitted Government officials — the President with his military staff and generals in gold braid, all of which was included in the material provided by the Soviet director. Sincerely, Upton Sinclair. Ill III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III OXFORD STREET FAMOUS Notices of new films will be sent on receipt of name and address ORIGINAL VERSIONS (Under the direction of Miss Elsie Cohen) CONTINENTAL FILMS CINEMA Presents IN (Opp. Warings) Gerrard 2981 III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III III