Close Up (Jul-Dec 1929)

Page scan 00062 from Close Up

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Jul-Dec 1929
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
00062
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
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CLOSE Ul' the pettiness of the whole tragedy against the background of war, then darting into it again to show how a demented sergeant will die, starved, parched and maddened, after cleaning his buttons as though awaiting a battalion parade. The men are shown first in private life, then drawn together, and flung into the war drama, sent, gradually dwindling, to the oasis where the climax is reached. Through it all we see the civilians lurking beneath the tunics of the B.E.F. soldier. The jam of futility has been smeared liberally over the w^hole picture. Technically, it is not so good. The flashbacks take up too much footage ; the half reel devoted to amorous adventures in Venice took our minds off the real drama. Another flashback, showing the events which led up to one of the unit enlisting, was as sickly as treacle with its cheap patriotism and sentimentality. One has to forgive much. One comes to forget the blemishes. Instead, the memory of Clifford MacLagen as the Sergeant lingers. Not, I repeat, a great film. But very nearly. WEEK-END WIVES. A British International Picture, directed by Harry Lachman. Britain's biggest bow at the boudoir box-office. Pulsing with the palpitating passion of Paramount pulchritude. Dazzling with the dubious delights of daring Deauville. Type : bedroom farce. Vintage : French stage. Cellar : Metro-Goldwyn. Art director : the same. Titles by Double 44