Close Up (Jan-Jun 1929)

Page scan 000374 from Close Up

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Jan-Jun 1929
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
000374
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:
June 20, 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 The only sex interest of this picture is suppHed by Hamlet faUing in love with Horatio. Nay, be not alarmed, for Hamlet is a woman and none other than Asta Nielsen ; but she must ape the man for her mother, in a time of national crisis, gave out to the people that an heir has been born to the throne. William forgot to think of that ! Therefore Hamlet walks the battlements in a tight-fitting, high-necked black costume. Asta Nielsen's face and the black costume, a white passion flower on a black stalk. No one suspects her masquerade, from the court physician to the plump Ophelia; no one marvels at her smooth complexion, or is distressed because she goes to sleep with her clothes on. I believe that she must have enjoyed an extraordinary amount of privacy for the period. In its day this film is said to have made a sensation ; it deserves its position as film history. Care and expense were taken, although it was surely unorthodox to set the famous scene with the strolling players in the gardens of Elsinore in broad day-light. OSWELL BlAKESTOX. Film Curiosities — No. 4. THE DEVIL'S CHURCH. Nobody seems to know who made this picture or who plays in it ; but nobody will contest its antiquity or its curiousness. 92