Spaghetti Western Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers

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