Dans l'Ouganda (Afrique centrale) Chasse à la girafe

Alfred Machin

A semi-fictionalized hunting expedition in Uganda.

La chasse à la girafe en Ouganda

the hunters and the man who filmed them

The film most definitely was, and is, virtually all (135m out of 150 according to the Pathé catalogue, the rest is just tinted) in colour (hand-coloured using the Pathé stencil-process) and like Machin&apos;s Chasse à la panthère of the previous year, the colour is exceptionally fine. And, yes, the wretched little Mickey Mouse was there (mercifully very briefly).

I have seen this film described as &quot;semi-fictionalised&quot; but there is absolutely no reason to suppose it is; all non-topicality films, fiction or non-fiction, involved a certain degree of mise en scène. The action is gruesome and the slaughtering and skinning are the main focus. This is absolutely typical of hunting films at this period (spoofed very funnily in the notorious Nordisk Lion Hunting/Løvejagten 1907). As I have suggested elsewhere, hunting films seem to have represented what one might call a sort of visual pornography. They were evidently hugely popular (Pathé did not waste colour on any film) and established the reputation of Alfred Machin who would go on to make some very important and interesting films (his Maudite soit la guerre should be compulsory viewing in all schools).

Two of Machin&apos;s other African films survives - Les Chasseurs d&apos;ivoire of 1912 but this I have only seen in an abbreviated Pathescope version in English retitled Elephant Hunting. A very sad film. More fun is one of the two films he shot amongst the Chillouks of southern Sudan. The first which detailed their working life is sadly not be found but the second, detailing their festive life exists (again in an abbreviated Pathé-Baby version).

Machin met with a sort of terrible condign punishment.He brought back several panthers as pets from Africa including Mimir who co-stars in several comedies Machin made for Pathé after his return. One of his panthers eventually mauled him and he never properly recovered his health thereafter.

In fact Machin was clearly very fond of animals (his wikipedia photo shows him with a leopard round his neck) and even made a full-length live-action film, featuring animals, Moi aussi, j&apos;accuse, which has an &quot;animal rights&quot; theme, a labour of love that took him years to make. Alas only a couple of excerpts from the film survive.

The film most definitely was, and is, virtually all (135m out of 150 according to the Pathé catalogue, the rest is just tinted) in colour (hand-coloured using the Pathé stencil-process) and like Machin's Chasse à la panthère of the previous year, the colour is exceptionally fine. And, yes, the wretched little Mickey Mouse was there (mercifully very briefly).

I have seen this film described as "semi-fictionalised" but there is absolutely no reason to suppose it is; all non-topicality films, fiction or non-fiction, involved a certain degree of mise en scène. The action is gruesome and the slaughtering and skinning are the main focus. This is absolutely typical of hunting films at this period (spoofed very funnily in the notorious Nordisk Lion Hunting/Løvejagten 1907). As I have suggested elsewhere, hunting films seem to have represented what one might call a sort of visual pornography. They were evidently hugely popular (Pathé did not waste colour on any film) and established the reputation of Alfred Machin who would go on to make some very important and interesting films (his Maudite soit la guerre should be compulsory viewing in all schools).

Two of Machin's other African films survives - Les Chasseurs d'ivoire of 1912 but this I have only seen in an abbreviated Pathescope version in English retitled Elephant Hunting. A very sad film. More fun is one of the two films he shot amongst the Chillouks of southern Sudan. The first which detailed their working life is sadly not be found but the second, detailing their festive life exists (again in an abbreviated Pathé-Baby version).

Machin met with a sort of terrible condign punishment.He brought back several panthers as pets from Africa including Mimir who co-stars in several comedies Machin made for Pathé after his return. One of his panthers eventually mauled him and he never properly recovered his health thereafter.

In fact Machin was clearly very fond of animals (his wikipedia photo shows him with a leopard round his neck) and even made a full-length live-action film, featuring animals, Moi aussi, j'accuse, which has an "animal rights" theme, a labour of love that took him years to make. Alas only a couple of excerpts from the film survive.

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La chasse à la girafe en Ouganda

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