Close-Up (Jul-Dec 1928)

Record Details:

Title:
Close-Up
Date:
Jul-Dec 1928
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
00048
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:
June 20, 2024
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CLOSE UP was now writing original stories for Paramount. His Service for Ladies, starring Adolph Menjou, made one aware of the possibilities for the intelligent writer with the knack of the light-comedy touch. The film was not first-class, but it was excellent stuff. Two stories already suggested themselves to one's brain. No. 2. Paramount had taken a stor\' by that curious high-brow bird from Chicago, Ben Hecht, and turned it into a box-office success : Underworld. Later on one discovered that much of the genius in this thriller was due to the marvellous direction of Josef von Sternberg. No. 3. Through one of those dreadful chatty magazines made for Movie fans one learned that Paramount w^as looking out for new talent among young, unknown writers, that an Authors Council, headed by Owen Davis, the dramatist, had been formed to deal with this end of the business. It was stated that Paramount were going to pick out unknown young writers, transplant them to HolMvood, pay them S 200 per week for six weeks, then, if they showed promise to take them into the company under contract. Before taking an^^ practical step in the matter I reviewed my position. What were my particular quaUfications for this Movie business. Point 1. I was not crazy to make money out of writing for the Movies. Naturally I did expect to make money if I got in, but this was not the guiding factor. Point 2. I had been vitally interested in films ever since about 1911-12, about which time I must have seen The Miracle and Queen EUzaheth. In 1920 I had actually adapted a nove] into a scenario on my own initiative. I had seen films 24