Close Up (Jul-Dec 1928)

Page scan 00053 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 #:
00053
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 not affect Mr. Harris, for a few daj^s later I received back my manuscript with the painful news that it did not "fit in with our programme". My next move was in the direction of the Fox people. One knew that Murnau was there, and Ludwig Berger had just arrived from Berlin. Both of these men, I knew, would know whether my story was worth while or not. But, alas, "try and get in", as the Americans say. Even when I had met the gifted children of Thomas Mann, who were both holidajdng in HoUwood, and had tried to meet the great Murnau through them, it was all in vain. I v/as closeted with one of the younger editorial stalf, who was very polite, but very dull. When I returned to get my story he rather wearily said that it was a "sordid stoiy". This in spite of the fact that it was a completely romantic story without any sex in it at all. I then put the story away, and decided thet it was a waste oft ime letting them read it. But this was not the end. Paramount had asked me for Pola Negri. For days and days I dug deep into my mind for something suitable for her, and one night a whole clear idea appeared. It was so compelling that it kept me aw^ake half the night. The following day (I think I had to borrow the car fare) I rushed out to Paramount full of my first-class idea which was going to bring the Negri back to public favour. But young men full of enthusiasm are not wanted at such places. The secretary of Mr. Sheldon assured me it was impossible to see him. I must see Mrs Stickinthmud. I groaned, shouted and argued, but this only made it the harder--" another crazy fellow trying to 29