Close Up (Jul-Dec 1928)

Page scan 00050 from Close Up

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Jul-Dec 1928
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
00050
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:
July 25, 2024
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CLOSE UP town) left me conscious of the kind of audiences to be found in America proper. Arrived in Los Angeles my first visit was to som.e Russians I had met in Europe. The man I me': was secretary to the "great" Russian, w^homi I will not mention by name, but who has as great a reputation in his owa country as Reinhardt basin Gemiany. His first question was " Have you come here under contract ?" When I toJd him I had arrived on spec, he was horrified, predicting death, and desolation. He reinforced his attitude by relating their oAvn adventures in Movie-land. It appeared that they had been specially imported because of their terrific reputation. But after the shouting was over they had been practically idle for thirteen months, doing nothing but drawing their salary envelopes. The company would not let them do anything at all, and even the one story which was so botched that the "great Russian" had to repudiate the authorship in print. They left for Moscow shortly afterwards. ]\Iy next move was a visit to Paramount armed with my precious letter. But already I had heard mutterings that letters of introduction in HoUwood were as thick as the leaves of Vallomxbrosa. How^ever, it did get me into the inner sanctum. I might interrupt my narrative here to give my impression of these "front" offices of the studios. They are all alike, guarded by tw^o-or three zealous keepers who are supposed to keep out all those who have no real business behind the facade of the studio. Questions of an intimate nature are asked, and since all sorts of people are sitting about there 2fj