Alfred Machin

Biography

Alfred Machin was a French director, cameraman, and producer. In 1907 he made his first films for Charles Pathé. A year later, he travelled to the Netherlands to shoot a number of short documentaries, including Comment se fait le fromage de Hollande and Coiffures et types de Hollande. These films were produced by Kinematograaf Pathé Frères, the Dutch subsidiary of Pathé Frères.

After having made a number of films in Africa, Machin returned to the Netherlands in the autumn of 1911. On a commission from the production company Hollandsche Film, he made a few short feature films for the foreign market. His films portrayed the clichéd image of the Netherlands, with traditional clothes, fishermen, windmills, and wooden shoes. In Volendam, he made films including Het vervloekte geld, a fishing drama starring Louis Bouwmeester. A year later, Hollandsche Film produced a second series of short feature films. It is unclear whether these were also directed by Machin (some sources mention Henri Adréani).

In 1913, Machin became the general manager of Belge-Cinéma Film, the Belgian subsidiary of Pathé Frères. Before the First World War began, he made films including Het meisje uit de bloemenvelden (La fille de Delft) and Maudite soit la guerre. When the war broke out, Machin returned to France, where he served in the Army and shot footage of the battle on the Western Front.

After the war, Machin started a film studio in Nice, as well as a private zoo with exotic animals. These animals appeared in his films. Machin was married to the actress Germaine Lécuyer, who acted in some of the films he made in the Netherlands.