Close Up (Jul-Dec 1930)

Page scan 00061 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 #:
00061
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 Robert stressed the point that amateur lilms were mere " distraction " and were never impended to be compared with the commercial cinema. He next projected a number of short documentaires in w^hich he had not attempted to produce anything beyond the Hmited means at his disposal and which were in consequence spirited and amusing. His next film Cruautes made in 1927 appears to-day a little banal. These were 9mm. films perfectly projected upon a screen sufficiently large to be view^ed by 500 persons^ by means of a special projector entirely built by Mr. Henri-Robert himself. We next had the long IGmm. film J'avais un fidele amant by Francis Winter and Robert de Ribon. There are such perfect moments in this film that one entirely forgets that it has been made on sub-standard stock by amateurs. Most of the young French critics and makers of inferior standard-size documentaires did not acknowledge the beauty of this film, which if copied upon 35mm. stock and given adequate publicity would undoubtedly achieve a great success. Mr. Charles de Saint-Cyr, one of the justest of cinema critics wrote a propos of this film in La Semaine a Paris : — Quoi ! voila deux amateurs et ils montrent plus d'intensite et tout a la fois de verite que la plupart des gens de metier. Le sujet du film etait un de ceux qui demandent sensibilite, gout, mesure, intelligence. Deux "promis" aux champs : une gardeuse de moutons et un jeune gars un peu naif. Une affiche qu'ils rencontrent vante les engagements coloniaux, et voici le gars qui s'engage. La vie continue. Cette notion du temps qui, a la campagne, ne compte pas, est suggeree de la plus admirable facon. Au bout de sept 35