First of all a reporter and press photographer for the magazine L'Illustration, Alfred Machin (1877-1929) was recruited by the Pathé Company in 1907. Pathé first of all sent him to Africa from where he brought back short animal and adventure films, then he took up a position in the Netherlands to make documentary films on the life of the Dutch.  He also made several films in Belgium, notably Le moulin maudit, a film of a genre that would become his speciality:  dramatic playlets.  He surrounded himself with dancers from corps de ballet from several Belgium opera houses and theatres to film these dramatised stories in Pathécolor.

The mill subsequently became a recurring, obsessive theme for Machin. Eric De Kuyper, in his monograph of Alfred Machin, defined it as the "very place of insanity, madness, uncontained passion". In Le moulin maudit, it was used as an instrument of torture and murder.  During filming, Machin diverted the traditional and familiar image of a peaceful country village to transform it into a place of crime and madness.

The name of Machin can be found in highly historic moments.  He was one of the pioneers of the aerial shot in 1910: during the First World War during which he took views of the battle of Verdun; and just before in 1913, the date on which he made Maudite soit la Guerre, a visionary drama heralding the world conflict.

In 1912 he took over Belge Cinéma Film, one of Pathé's subsidiaries as artistic director.  He then specialised in "animal comedy".