Close-Up (Mar-Dec 1933)

Record Details:

Title:
Close-Up
Date:
Mar-Dec 1933
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
000131
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:
June 20, 2024
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CLOSE UP 119 " The First Right of Children " (From the Diary of a W oman-doctoi) , a DeutschesLicht spiel -Syndikat Film . " Le premier droit de V enfant " (tire du Journal d'une doctoresse) un film Deutsches-Liclit spiel Syndikat. Here the curious formalism of American dogmatism would seem to be supplemented by the contradictory element of Messianism, which actually proves to be the same lifeless dogmatism of a formal principle in the domain of religion. And this is only natural, in as much as both are fostered to an equal degree by the same social class system. By our treatment we succeeded, in our opinion, in tearing off at any rate some of the masks — though by no means all — from this monumental figure. We reconstructed the mother's role as best we could. The pastor, McMillan, we eliminated from the scenario entirely. And Dreiser was the first to appreciate the merits of our reconstruction of his work. Not without cause are we witnessing at the present time Dreiser's gradual desertion of the ranks of the petit bourgeoisie and his approach nearer and nearer to ourselves. In our version, the tragedy within the framework of the novel is consummated much later. The cell. And the electric chair. And the brightly polished spittoon — from personal observation in the prison of Sing-Sing — at his feet. All