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 #:
000151
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 romance about a shopgirl who married the millionaire. Xo imagination, no originality, no resource and a more and more complete reliance on the support of elaborate accompanying stage shows to bring in the customers ! Now^ comes the talking picture as the latest fad, and there are some observers who welcome even this surrender of the first principle of the screen as at least a temporary relief from the dreariness of the same three or four stories endlessly repeated. All of this is, of course, a commonplace of American cinema criticism, but it is necessary to repeat it to suggest the proper background for the earlier mentioned rescue. For into the dullness and general uneventfulness of the most discouraging of screen seasons there was — though not quite suddenly — tossed a Russian picture and a British picture, and, immediately, the photoplav situation took on new life and eagerness. Now, it was not so surprising to find a Russian production an invigorating influence, but to see an English film also acting as ptilmotor is surprising enough to deserve comment. The picture is, of course, that Herbert Wilcox production called Dawn, w^iich deals with the wartime activities and execution of the nurse, Edith Cavell. In my opinion, Dawn is an interesting work because it tells a straightforward story straightforwardly, is beautifully acted by Sybil Thorndike, and, dealing with a theme still full of dynamite, it was thoroughly impartial and honourable in its treatment. But no one could say it w^as really important as a piece of cinemamaking. What made it of importance to New York's photoplay season w^as its controversial angle. Because the film dealt 13