Quick Facts
Biography
Alexander Esway (20 January 1895 – 23 August 1947) was a Hungarian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer.
Life and career
Esway was born SándorEzry in Budapest. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he worked as a director and screenwriter, first in Germany and then in the UK. He began working primarily in France from 1933, although he also continued to work in the UK where he set up a short-lived production company, Atlantic Film Productions, in 1935. The company's only production was Thunder in the City, starring Edward G. Robinson. During World War II, he worked in Hollywood on Allied propaganda films, most notably, The Cross of Lorraine. After the war, he returned to France where he made his last two films: the two-part war film Le Bataillon du ciel, based on the book of the same name by Joseph Kessel, and L'Idole, starring Yves Montand. Esway died in St. Tropez at the age of 52.