Close Up (Jul-Dec 1928)

Page scan 000328 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 #:
000328
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 Looping the Loop. Ufa. Directed by Paul Robison. Featuring Werner Krauss, Jenny Jugo, and Warwick Ward. Can it be possible that people are so impressed with circus films? Here is another, and the theme is one we know inside out, backwards, forwards, and upside down. The clown with the aching heart, the worthless female who causes all the trouble, the philandering villian, and the Big Turn that goes wrong. It is surprising that the public can go with interest to a film, the complete events of which it can foresee from the first moment, but apparently it does, though even those who like repetition without end will have to feel that the edge is a bit worn off this most favourite of all box office themes. Nevertheless, Robison has managed to give us a film which — story apart — is able to hold our attention, and now and then our admiration. Werner Krauss, for once actting straight and not in character, has never been better. His role as clown is hardly important, and does not matter. It is the Krauss behind the clown, the — so to speak, ache behind the smile, that matters. He has insuperable suavity, a charming worldliness. And power. There is not one false gesture, not one over emphasis, not even one moment where the triviality of what he has to do seems trivial, for he has succeeded in giving a profound character study, which in itself and unrelated to other incident could not be bettered. Indeed, characterisation is the strong factor in this otherwise weak film. Jenny Jugo has great quality, and is convincing and consistent in the part of a sullen, stupid girl. Her su!lenness is very adroitly conveyed through her various flirta 76