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 #:
000290
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 being what they are, but the system which makes them so. The mistress, for instance, though shown up in her true baseness, is no more base and no more shown up than thousands of her type are every day to the observant eye. Not one of her actions, expressions or gestures is strained or over coloMred. She has even pathos and a likeability. Chancing to meet her you would find her a cheery, droll and comfortable soul. It is Preobrashenskaja's devilish cunning that has lifted the edge and allowed us to peep beneath at the cauldron-like raging of jealousy and fear. The War sweeps away the young men. Wassilissa is left standing alone in the half-reaped fields, and sees that now she will be quite alone and without friends. The corn, silver and swiftly undulating in fresh winds, has a beauty and peace where there is suddenly no longer beaut^' and peace. The corn is luminous and ecstatic, but majestic clouds make the sky darker than the earth. The life of the village goes on, and women take on the men's work. One day Wassily goes to market. He has promised to bring back presents to the famil}'. Night comes w^ith torrential rain, and in the small room the women are weaving. The wife and mistress and women friends have a conspiratorial, uneasy manner. They weave steadily, the looms and treadles creak, and cover their whispering. Anna, sad, dreaming of Ivan, is yet aware of their hostility. Wassily arrives home drenched, and is much fussed over. But Anna slips away. He has a shawl for his mistress. She puts it on, flirting, unwneldly and enticing, in front of him. But this second shawl . . . she realises is not for her. Her pleasure is short 46