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 #:
000189
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
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

CLOSE UP Lacking sufficient funds between them to carry on the venture, De Mille and Lasky secured the financial partnership of Samuel Goldwyn, and these three, together with Dustin Farnum, the actor, constituted the original organisation. Others who were invited to come in and lend support to the infant enterprise shook their heads and tucked their pocketbooks out of sight. What did De Mille and his associates know about making moving pictures? In truth, they knew nothing about it ; nor would they have been any better equipped if they had known w^hat little there w^as to know about it at that time. Quite frankly, they were adventurers, pioneers, experimenters, setting out to do something different, something new, something worth while; and a common faith in De Mille's vision and a trust in his native ability as a director inspired them with the assurance of success. A few thousand dollars invested then in that faith and that trust w^ould to-day be worth as many millions. And to-day there are individuals in Hollywood, thankful to earn a hundred a week, who were offered this opportunity, and who not only declined it, but, as one friend to another, also admonished De Mille against throwing away his future. Faith in Providence is common enough, but faith in man and events calls for inspired courage. The history of the photoplay and its development are personified in De Mille — epitomised in his Hollywood career as director and producer. He began his work in an abandoned barn ; its stalls serving as dressing rooms. He and Lasky, as well as the actors and the hired hands, walked to work each morning and brought their lunches with them in paper bags. The stage in the rear of the barn was open to the air 43