Close Up (Jul-Dec 1930)

Page scan 00059 from Close Up

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Jul-Dec 1930
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
00059
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 their film was going to be, had many hardships to face. Sound has in no way helped the film. The singing and talking of natives in a language which is unintelligible become eventually monotonous. It is certainly daring and very genuine and its success is a proof that the French public, at any rate, need not be continuously spoon-fed with misrepresented entertainment value in the form of cabaret scenes. Vieux Colombier has concluded the run of Menschen am Sonntag, which w^as quite mildly received by the French critics. I consider it an excellent film not fully understood in France and w4iich will without doubt be severely though unnecessarily cut in England. The film gives out more than was put into it. It is more than a documentaire of five young workers; many sequences typify German customs and above all German temperament. No one seems to have mentioned the brilliant photography of Schiifftan — carefully chosen " stills " from this film could, I feel sure, sucessfully fill one of those modern Parisian photo books. Vieux Colombier are now exclusivelv presenting Jean Epstein's latest film Mor-Vran, but having only seen the " stills " from this film which appears to be of the Finis Terrae genre, a criticism must aw^ait a later article. Before terminating for the season, all the groups presented their final programmes. Group 1' Effort paid homage to that grand old man of the Cinema, Georges Melies, who in an informal speech amused us with stories of the pioneering days. Voyage to the Moon, known throughout the world as the first long film employing cinema tricks, was presented and followed by Jiiif Errant, the first film making use of superimposition and artificial thunderstorm effects ; and 33