Close Up (Jul-Dec 1930)

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Jul-Dec 1930
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
000489
Language:
English
Subjects:
motion pictures, Motion pictures -- Periodicals
Collection:
Global Cinema, Switzerland, and Early 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:
August 29, 2022
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CLOSE UP pained if one were to insinuate that they are peculiar. Let us inspect their Majestic Cinema. The atmospheric theme is Venetian " ; which means that the auditorium is conceived as a canal. Clouds and stars are spattered over the blue ceiling, and the walls are fitted with rings for mooring gondolas. The proscenium arch is a colonnaded arcade, thrown up in relief by blue lighting. Two Venetian turrets disguise the projection box (a shamefully mechanised thing). Predominating colours, inside the auditorium of the new Astoria in the South of London, are light silver, light gold, red, green and fawn, the whole conjuring up the barbaric splendour of Egypt." Every seat is of red wood with green satin brocade. The ceiling consists of a decorated treillage, with Vermillion as prevalent hue. Gold has been chosen for the proscenium and the side walls support plaster panels used as reflecting surfaces for " modern lighting." Side walls to the circle are occupied by Egyptian scenes ; helmets and spears of soldiers, in these classical tableaux, are reproduced in gold and silver leaf. A huge piece of Egyptian tapestry does duty as a safety curtain. The Lytham Palace is another example of a recent Egyptian atmospheric "; the main structure being cream-coloured facience with a buff frieze, plum-coloured parapet and a panelled frieze in cream on a blue ground depicting sculptured figures with a Wedgewood effect. A dominant window is set in a metal grille and balanced by side windows treated in cellulose gold. Painted sphinxes, on stepped dados, are sheltered in the auditorium. The panels, representing desert scenes, are executed in colours barbarous and regal." Electric light fittings are constructed of tubes and beads of glass depending from concealed 311