Close Up (Jul-Dec 1929)

Page scan 000535 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 #:
000535
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 UP to him, saw the light and gave them PIE. And how the people did flock to the shows, you know all about it. We've all bought ourselves yachts and limousines out of that first pie-money. Well, of course, pie is not d la mode any more, you might say, need a different class of show nowadays. But there's one staple article that the movies will always use, and never mind who says ' no ' Legs, legs, and some more legs ' is what I've been preaching to my directors and waiters ever since I've been in the business. The men come for the legs, the women for the costumes and for the handsome fellows. That's that, and John Rollstone says it mighty w^ell in that whale of an article he wrote once. (See Close Up for July '29). Give them an undress show, as the police lets you and watch the mob at the ticket office, reverends, censors, good people and all. Well, sir, you may not be too old to remember that after the pie and the falling downstairs business came the Vamp. And the vamp has come to stay, no matter w^hat they say to the contrary. Our stars keep us well posted about their correspondence. You'd be surprised to hear that a great many women write to say that they wish they were in the vamp's place. It's the women who make up most of the vamp's fans, get that straight. A sex appeal picture will usually make more money than a ^ crook ' picture a ' mystery ' picture, a Russian picture or a Jewish comedy. Occasionally, when we have a colossal genius like that German actor we can put over something big without sex appeal. But the general run of picture always leans towards ^ sexy ' stuff. Any girl w^ho has Mt ' is w^elcome to my business, but they're not to be found on a vacant lot." .369