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 #:
000388
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:
November 07, 2023
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COMMENT AND REVIEW CLOSE UP CONTRIBUTORS AND A MURDER Murder Among Friends, by " Simon." (Wishart. 7/6). Here is a murder mystery by Oswell Blakeston and Roger Burford ! Now, the first part of Murder Among Friends, which is called The Dialect of Death, presents the pyschic atmosphere, the strange characters and the Cornish mystery. The chapter headings of this section do something to teU the story : Sea Round a House, Twenty Evil Men, A Witch at the Well, Death Holds the Trumps, Perilous Beach, What Happens by Night ? The second part of the book, which is called The Search for Truth, makes us conscious of the deeper purpose behind the detective story. The authors have their theory regarding the business of the genuine detective novel, whose plot must always be the revealing of Truth. In the opinion of O.B. and R.B. there is little merit in the sleuth story which ends with a great detective appearing at the eleventh-hour and pointing to the culprit. The book should begin darkly, mysteriously, and the clues should be like small lamps leading the reader gradually into the daylight of Truth. A conscientious reader should have a nice feeling of satisfaction when his deduction is confirmed by the author's conclusion. Film fans will realise that Murder Among Friends is shaped for a climax : in fact the fourth and last part of the book, which is called Death Comes to Dinner, is not divided into chapters, but is told in swiftly alternating paragraphs. Thus, we naturally discover the influence of the cinema on two writers who have concerned themselves so much with the cinema. Detective fans will find more than the usual number of thriUs before the big Punch, more than the usual number of suspects to be eliminated, and some entirely new material relating to modern optics. Those who cannot buy this unusuaUy entertaining book may ask for it at their libraries : but then they may miss the extraordinarily arresting dust cover by Francis Bruguiere, which shows the insane face of the hero photographically reversed so that blood drops are like dark pits. The combination of Bruguiere, Burford and Blakeston makes Murder Among Friends a real cineaste's gift for Christmas. R.D. 864