Close Up (Jul-Dec 1928)

Page scan 000106 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 #:
000106
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 expected that Italian films will have a recrudescence. Remember Messalina ? Ufa is to train Italian technicians and to exploit Italian films wherever it expoits its own. German nationalist picture making can in return more or less have the run: of Italy. In the words of the popular song, "How d'you like it?" Italian films, therefore, will be propagandistic on a wide scale. We take the liberty of quoting from the Observer of June 17. "As is well known, the policy of the Ufa Company in Germany is largely directed by the Nationalist magnate Alfred Hugenberg, whose influence in the topical news section is paramount. (Not exclusive however, as Emelka run pretty close with their Emelka Woche. Ed.) It is this news section which is regarded as more important in its general tendency than the big films whose story is so largely dependant upon "production values". These would seldom include as main theme the glorification of a Communist hero, or the happy home life of a Socialist family. But a resolute determination to boycott all topical films taken of strikes and demonstrations, parades inspected by generals and expensive sporting contests in the cinemas controlled by those who believe Labour should be kept in its place is a powerful propagandist weapon." The article goes on to point out that instructional films, which can contain no political bias, will also play an important part in the exchange. * 70