Modernist Film Magazines, New Media Technologies and Industry-Based Freelance Writers in the 1920s and 1930s. The Case of Close Up .

This essay shows how the modernist film magazine Close Up evolved from a position of opposition to sound cinema to one of endorsement and even planned practice, under the influence of its leading freelance contributors. The essay shows that these industry-based freelancers were frequently the intellectual driving force behind the magazine, rather than the established literary figures who are most often the subject of critical attention. Their work within the media industry, especially in writing and broadcasting for mass media outlets, influenced the subject matter of the little magazine, and often directed its agenda. The essay attends in particular to the contributions of Robert Herring, the film critic of the Manchester Guardian, in setting an agenda for the endorsement of sound cinema.