Background
Esway was born Sándor Ezry in Budapest.
Esway was born Sándor Ezry in Budapest.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s he worked as a director and screenwriter, first in Germany and then in the United Kingdom. He began working primarily in France from 1933, although he also continued to work in the United Kingdom 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 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 Saint Tropez at the age of 52.