Close Up (Jan-Jun 1930)

Page scan 00051 from Close Up

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Jan-Jun 1930
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
00051
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 one thinks of Stroheim, although it is not fair to the actor who has given such a magnificent performance. At the pits the men are made to work. Superlative camera work keeps the guarding warders in the foreground. Heavy carts round incredible corners. Get up, get on; delivered with a twirl of the moustache, as if it were as easy as winking, or rather as twirling a moustache. Revolt. The spectator's mind has already revolted, so the upturned carts, at the bottom of the slope, do not tell of wasted labour, but gallant protest. An autumn landscape, quivering. No shots of the fight. An outline of the ringleader beingpunished, related through the faces of onlookers. Again not done because it is clever; it is simply effective. Birds in a cage are a little trite, but the men in the cages are not exactly birds and there may be cynicism. The governor plays a guitar to the birds. Meanwhile the cringing warder leaves an anniversary present on the table — an empty frame. On the way out he pauses alarmed at the sight of a uniformed arm flung over a chair — an empty coat. Frame, coat — empty. How ridiculous the governor is, doing his daily dozen, and how sensual as he chases the fat cook around the table I The political prisoners are on hunger strike. Crossing himself (and thinking of the cook?) the governor orders that they shall be taken to church. There is a shot of the choir master sounding his tuningfork : this is a cue for the audience, a warning that the high spot is at hand. Is the audience fully aware of the richness of the ritual, of the church candles that are bars, shutting off the prisoners from the spiritual reserves ? Of the ladies