Alton moved to the US to attend college and first became involved in the film industry when he was spotted by a gateman at Cosmopolitan Studios in New York looking for extras. He began as a lab technician in Los Angeles in the 1920s, later becoming a cameraman within four years. He moved to France with Ernst Lubitsch to film backgrounds for "The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg" (1927) and ended up staying for one year heading the camera department of Paramount Pictures's Joinville Studios. He claimed he discovered Maurice Chevalier. In 1932, he moved to Argentina where he shot many Spanish-language films and designed the country's first sound film studio for Lumiton and Argentina Sono Film. He intended to stay for a year but ended up staying for seven. He won an prize for best photography in Argentina in 1937.