Le Diamant noir (1913)
Directed by Alfred Machin

Film Review

Le Diamant noir is one of the more noteworthy films that Alfred Machin directed during his term as artistic director of Pathé's Belgian subsidiary.  Machin's first assignment for Pathé was to shoot footage of wildlife and hunting expeditions in Africa, but he was given a far more important role in 1912 when he was tasked with developing the fledgling film industries in Netherlands and Belgium.

Le Diamant noir has two notable stars.  The first is a young Albert Dieudonné, who would later become famous for his portrayal of Napoléon Bonaparte in Abel Gance's great biopic Napoléon (1927).  The second, and arguably more photogenic, is a leopard named Mimir, whom Machin adopted as a baby and who starred in many of his films.  The other animal to steal the limelight in Le Diamant noir is an incredibly well-trained magpie - by contrast, the human members of the cast are a pretty dull bunch.

Machin wasn't just one of Pathé's most prolific film directors (he made over a hundred films in twenty years), he was also one of the company's most committed.  Technically, Le Diamant noir is on a par with any film being made by Pathé's rival company Gaumont at the time, and uses the camera and editing more stylishly than Gaumont's leading director Louis Feuillade.  (There is a pace and fluidity to this film which Feuillade's own films of this time lack.)   The story isn't much to write home about but Machin keeps us interested and maintains the tension by cross-cutting between the Belgian and African settings (guess which is the more interesting of the two).  The one let down is that you never forgive Dieudonné for killing Mimir, but that's professional rivalry for you.  Can you imagine a leopard in the role of Napoléon Bonaparte?

Film Synopsis

Luc Ogier is dismissed by his employers when a valuable black diamond mysteriously goes astray.  Dishonoured and rejected by his fiancée, he accompanies the explorer Santher on an expedition to the Congo.  In Luc's absence, his employers discover that the diamond was stolen by a magpie that he had befriended.  Meanwhile, Luc saves Santher's life when he is attacked by a fierce panther...