Close Up (Mar-Dec 1933)

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212 CLOSE UP romantic story which the backers of the picture are offering to please popular taste. The result is " THUNDER OVER MEXICO " : a " BestPicture-of-tbe-Year, " Hollywood special, but in the annals of true art, the saddest miscarriage on record of a high and glorious enterprise. For more than a year Eisenstein's friends and admirers in the United States have been appealing to his backers, represented by Upton Sinclair, to save the picture and to preserve it so that eventually Eisenstein might edit it. A campaign was even launched to raise $100,000 to purchase the material for Eisenstein. Finally, a Committee for Eisenstein's Mexican Film was formed, consisting of the editors of EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA and including Waldo Frank, Lincoln Kirstein, Agustin Aragon Leiva and J. M. Valdes-Rodriguez. All these efforts, however, were unsuccessful. It is now too late to stop the release of " THUNDER OVER MEXICO." BUT THERE IS ONE ALTERNATIVE LEFT TO THOSE WHO WISH TO SAVE THE ORIGINAL NEGATIVE OF " QUE VIVA MEXICO!": THE PRESSURE OF WORLD-WIDE APPEAL TO THE CONSCIENCE OF THE BACKERS MAY INDUCE THEM TO REALIZE THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION AND GIVE THE FILM TO EISENSTEIN. The purpose of this manifesto, therefore, is twofold : (1) to orient and forewarn public taste on the eve of the arrival of a much misrepresented product, "THUNDER OVER MEXICO";. and (2) to incite public opinion to bring pressure to bear upon the backers in a last effort to save the complete negative, both cut and uncut, for Eisenstein. LOVERS OF FILM ART! STUDENTS OF EISENSTEIN! FRIENDS OF MEXICO ! SUPPORT THIS CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THE NEGATIVE OF " QUE VIVA MEXICO!" DO NOT BE SATISFIED WITH ANY SUBSTITUTES FOR EISENSTEIN'S ORIGINAL VISION ! MAKE THIS CAMPAIGN AN UNFORGETTABLE PRECEDENT THAT WILL ECHO THROUGHOUT FILM HISTORY, A WARNING TO ALL FUTURE ENEMIES OF THE CINEMA AS A FINE ART ! ! SEND LETTERS OF PROTEST AND APPEAL TO UPTON SINCLAIR, 614 NORTH ARDEN DRIVE, BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA, AND COMMUNICATE IMMEDIATELY WITH THE COMMITTEE FOR EISENSTEIN'S MEXICAN FILM, c/o EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA, INTERNATIONAL FILM QUARTERLY, 1625 NORTH VINE STREET, HOLLYWOOD. CALIFORNIA. EDITORS OF EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA. FOREIGN FILM JOURNALS : PLEASE COPY ! IMMEDIATE PROPAGANDA ESSENTIAL! FILM SOCIETIES: DUPLICATE THIS MANIFESTO ! DISTRIBUTE TO YOUR MEMBERS ! WRITE FOR EXTRA COPIES ! DO NOT ALLOW THIS COWARDLY ASSASSINATION OF EISENSTEIN'S MEXICAN FILM !