Close Up (Jul-Nov 1927)

Page scan 000514 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 #:
000514
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 There is another subtle moment when she is seen again, only in daylight, at the window, a long, shallow window, with rain pouring down. Her husband, finally exasperated, is again going off. He leaves. You do not see the door because a curtain is hung across the passage. But you see the curtain billow up, and sink back as the door slams. Then the wife suddenly runs out after him. She leaves the door open, you can tell this because again the curtain blows up, and papers lift, then blow off the table. Her feet are seen running past the window. They come back together, both dripping with rain. We have discovered at last w^hat it is, why her brooding has become more intense. She has gone to an hospital to stop motherhood. We would remind Close Up readers again, that birth control is completely legalised in Russia. Films, showing in detail the dangers of irregular abortion are freely shown, and all information supplied. While waiting her turn, clearly ver^^ frightened, she sees from the window first a baby in a pram, then a child with a doll. These two symbols came like a hit between the eyes. Until this moment everything had been stark, exact and undeniable. Suddenly we were back with the old technique, the old sentimentahty. Suddenly the psychology was going to bits. Until this moment her type had been remorselessly painted in, so that you felt now that the sight of a baby at such a time would repel her ; would shake her certainly. Here was no type of motherhood. She was far too self -centered, too occupied with her ow^n needs to feel anything but phys 72