Spaghetti Western Director ~ Alfred Machin
Alfred Machin was a French film director, producer, and
cinematographer known for his pioneering contributions to early cinema,
including documentary filmmaking in Africa, innovative technical experiments,
and progressive narrative works such as the pacifist film Maudite soit la
guerre.
Born on April 20, 1877, in Blendecques, Pas-de-Calais,
Machin began his career as a cameraman for Pathé Frères at the start of the
20th century. He shot documentary shorts in Central Africa from 1907 to 1909,
capturing wild animals and indigenous communities, and later incorporated
exotic animals into his work after bringing some back to France. In 1908 he
traveled to the Netherlands, where he directed short documentaries and fiction
films for Pathé's Dutch subsidiary, often featuring traditional Dutch imagery
for export markets. By 1913 he had relocated to Belgium as general manager of
Belge-Cinéma-Film, Pathé's local branch, directing the country's first feature
film Le Diamant noir and his best-known work, the anti-war drama “Maudite soit
la guerre” (1914), which employed early color techniques and aerial filming.
Machin served in the French army during World War I,
helping establish the Photographic Service of the French Army and filming
front-line footage for Pathé. After the war he founded a production studio in
Nice with a private zoo, directing animal-themed comedies and other films until
his death on June 16, 192,9 at the age of 52, from injuries caused by a panther
during a shoot. His career reflects a rare progressive vision among early
French filmmakers, blending technical innovation with humanitarian themes.
Alfred Machin directed on silent Euro-western, “Le
cow-boy John cherche un engagement au music-hall” in 1913.
MACHIN, Alfred (Eugène Alfred Jean
Baptiste Machin) [4/20/1877,
Blendecques, Pas-de-Calais, Nord, France – 6/16/1929, Nices, Alpes-Maritimes,
France (embolism)] – reporter, photographer, producer, director, writer,
cameraman, married to actress Germaine Lecuyer (Germaine Madeleine Lécuyer)
[1886–1947] (1913-1929) father of Freddy Machin [1913-1974], Ginette Machin
[1918-1951], actor Claude Machin [1921-1978], founded Hollandiche Film [1911],
Belge Film.
Le cow-boy John
cherche un engagement au music-hall – 1913
Spaghetti Western
Screenwriter ~ Claudio Failoni
Claudio Failoni was
an Italian screenwriter who was an assistant director on two films from 1969
and 1970 and co-wrote one screenplays for one film and that was also his only
Spaghetti western, “Quel caldo maledetto giorno di fuoco” (Gatling Gun) with Paolo
Bianchini, Franco Calderoni and José Luis Merino in 1968.
I can find
biographical information on him.
FAILONI, Claudio [Italian] –
assistant director, writer.
Gatling Gun – 1968
(co)
Spaghetti Western
Cinematographer ~ Joe Rosenthal
Joseph John
Rosenthal was an American photographer renowned for capturing the iconic image
of six United States Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi
during the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945.
Born in Washington,
D.C., to Russian immigrant parents and hindered by poor eyesight that barred
him from military service, Rosenthal joined the Associated Press in 1941 and
documented combat operations across the Pacific theater. His photograph, taken
spontaneously during the second flag-raising on the volcanic island, earned the
1945 Pulitzer Prize for Photography and became a symbol of American resolve in
World War II, later inspiring the United States Marine Corps War Memorial in
Arlington, Virginia.
The image's
reproduction on a war bond poster contributed to raising approximately $26
billion for the U.S. war effort, underscoring its propaganda and
morale-boosting impact amid the protracted conflict.4 Despite initial Marine
Corps investigations prompted by accusations of staging—stemming from a
separate posed replacement flag-raising Rosenthal photographed shortly
after—the photograph was verified as authentic through eyewitness accounts and
film footage, with Rosenthal maintaining its unposed nature until his death.
Following the war, Rosenthal continued a decades-long career in
photojournalism, though none of his subsequent works matched the singular fame
of the Iwo Jima shot, which he described as largely accidental.
Joe died in Novato,
California on August 20, 2006, at the age of 94.
Joe Rosenthal was a
cinematographer on two Euro-westerns: “Hiawatha, the Messiah of the Ojibway”
(Hiawatha) and “On the Bear River Horse Ranch” both in 1903.
ROSENTHAL, Joe (Joseph John
Rosenthal) [10/9/1911, Washington D.C. U.S.A –
8/20/2006, Novato, California, U.S.A.] – director, cinematographer, married to Dorothy
Lee Walch [1922-2012] (1946-19??), father of cinematographer Joe Rosenthal Jr.
(Joseph Rosenthal Jr.) [1947-2006], Anne Lee Rosenthal [1949- ].
Hiawatha - 1903
On the Bear River
Horse Ranch – 1903
