Close Up (Mar-Dec 1933)

Page scan 00085 from Close Up

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Mar-Dec 1933
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
00085
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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COMMENT AND REVIEW FACTS ONLY. The success of Madchen in Uniform is having" strange consequence, it is making it harder and harder for me to run a repertory theatre for continental talkies in London. Film producers abroad say, If Madchen in Uniform could make such a hit in London, my picture will make your fortune!' And they insist, week by week, on higher guarantees." It was strange hearing how the success of one film nearly ruined the threatre which promoted it. But Miss Elsie Cohen was kind enough to list for me her daily increasing difficulties, in order that Close Up could urge its readers to co-operate more strongly with Miss Cohen's splendid effort. Film lover must go more often and take more friends to The Academy and Cinema House and here are the reasons why : " Some patrons are a little discontented that they cannot see a certain foreign picture which strikes them as being of special importance. BUT, if I import even a short from abroad, I have to begin by paying a royalty to the sound system (generally Tobis Clang). " This royalty is a minimum £'25 for a one reel picture. " The owners of the film have to be paid their fee, and a new copy has to be paid for ; while transport expenses have to be covered by us. "Then — and how many patrons realise this? — there is the duty of one penny a foot and the censor's fee of two pounds a reel. " With a full length picture, there is the additional expense of superimposed titles. This is generally about £150 : with the present feature at The Academy, the laboratory bill and the editing expenses amounted to £200. " Before a new feature picture is shown on the screen, I estimate that it will cost me £400. " And you know how large The Academy is? We seat 600 and take about fifty pounds for a full house. We have four shows a day, but a cinema is considered to be doing very well if it takes a house and a half a day. " There is, you know, a thing called the Entertainment Tax and there are the running expenses of a theatre. You'd be surprised, I believe, if I told you how much our mailing list costs per week. " Still, I think I have told you enough to let you explain why we cannot get all the films which cineastes would like to see. Also, I hope that these figures will convince cinema patrons that they ought to attend each change of programme even if, now and then, there is a feature which may not be so interesting as its predecessor." O. B. 77