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 #:
000407
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:
August 29, 2022
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CLOSE UP street and drop bombs. Explosives were laid in the ground and loose sand and earth, together with a few dummies, placed on top. These mines were wired and fired from a central switch board. Obviously it would have been too dangerous to drop bombs from the plane as the crowd would not have known beforehand where the explosions would take place. The simple expedient of firing them from the ground gives the same appearance on the screen, and the crowds are able to give the mines a wide berth. However lack of foresight on everyone's part nearly caused a nasty accident. The explosion damaged the wings of the aeroplane, which was flying fairly low. The rather ludicrous result w^as that the plane was within an inch of being down with its own bomb. Did^the producer care ? Did he sympathize with the indignant pilot ? He shook with uncontrollable laughter ! On another occasion spectacular explosions in a war film nearly led to a catastrophy. The shots were taken but the director was displeased by the artificial way in which the supers dodged the danger area. He ordered a second rehearsal, without explosions. In the middle he silently countermanded his order to the electrician. There was true alarm on the supers' faces that time. One or two of the extras, who had been hit by clods of earth, fell on their neighbours with bitter reproaches ! Maybe it is silly to take directors, that is British ones, too seriously. It is perhaps more philosophical and soothing to treat them Uke a certain expert diver. J «i 53