Close Up (Jul-Nov 1927)

Page scan 000492 from Close Up

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Jul-Nov 1927
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
000492
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:
June 20, 2024
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

CLOSE UP gone through the usual channels, The King of Kings would not have passed in England. It was admitted that it might be a sincere work, but there was a rule that no film showing the Face of Christ could be passed. That was all. Xo Face. Ben-Hur got over this with a series of rather undignified tricks and feelings were apparently spared. It may be that we prefer to keep our own conception of Christ and not see someone else's on the screen. But we remain unmoved by the hundreds of Nativities, Last Suppers and Crucifixions in the picture galleries ; and if it is seeing an actor that we object to, why are w^e not upset when we know that many of the Madonnas were sat for by painter's mistresses ? Perhaps there is something blasphemous about movement, and Old Masters are, anyway, sacred. But it is curious that the temporarj', human attributes may not be represented when the spiritual may be and the miracles faked. Certain things are good and certain things are bad, and nothing in the spirit of this presentation can alter that fact. We may resign ourselves to this, though I do not see why we should, but if we move about w^e find that the conception of these things varies from country to country, though the general law, Thou Shalt Not See, holds still. In England, for instance, Kraft und Schdnheit may not be pubhcly shown. ''The nude is rude." We are the most athletic nation but we can't get used to our bodies. When the Film Society showed Mr. Betts' studies of sport, you could feel the httle gasps w^hen the running clothes faded to reveal the muscles working. The idea, I think is that All Flesh is 50