Alexander Esway Movies
- 1948
This French WW II film chronicles the invasion of France by scores of English paratroopers who have come to bedevil the Nazi troops before D-Day. Much of the story centers on the preparation of the troops and upon the planning of the invasion. The rest follows the paratroopers as they team-up with French fighters and fulfill their missions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierre Blanchar
- 1946
Le Batailon du Ciel (Sky Batallion) is a monumental undertaking, especially for the financially strapped postwar French film industry. Running nearly three hours, the film is a meticulous re-creation of but one aspect of the 1944 Normandy Invasion. Director Alexander Esway concentrates on the French paratroopers who participated in the invasion, with several of the actual battalion members appearing in minor roles. Throughout, the acting and direction is realistic, arguably even more so than in the larger-scale D-Day epic The Longest Day. Le Batailon du Ciel was filmed with the joint cooperation of the French Army and Britain's RAF. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janine Crispin, Daphne Courtney, (more)
- 1945
In this crime comedy, a prominent judge's vacation is interrupted during a sudden storm that forces him to seek refuge in a shady nightclub where he is mistaken by the mobsters for a highly esteemed racketeer. Unfortunately, mayhem erupts when a moll recognizes him as the judge who sent her low-life lover to prison and she blows the whistle. Fortunately, by the story's end, the judge has managed to reform them all. Law and order ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gladys George, Ruth Terry, (more)
- 1943
The time is World War II. A group of disillusioned French soldiers are approached by Nazi troops and promised safe passage to their homeland. The Frenchmen willingly surrender, only to discover that their next destination is a German concentration camp located near a Gallic village. The anticipated escape attempt results in an uprising from the French villagers--hence the film's title, which refers to the emblem of the Free-French underground. Cross of Lorraine compensates for its Hollywood's-eye view of France (no more realistic than the Paris of the Ernst Lubitsch musicals) with some remarkably graphic sequences showing the extent of German brutality. The melting-pot cast includes Frenchman Jean-Pierre Aumont as a patriot, Hungarian Peter Lorre as a hateful Nazi, American Gene Kelly as a cynical victim of German torture, and Canadian Hume Cronyn as the traditionally rodent-like informer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean-Pierre Aumont, Gene Kelly, (more)
- 1939
The inimitable Raimu heads the cast of the frothy farce Monsieur Brotoneau. Known for his infallible punctuality, bank president Brontoneau (Raimu) causes a panic when he shows up 45 minutes late. When Brontoneau reveals that his tardiness was due to discovering his wife in bed with her lover, his faithful secretary Louise (Josette Day) is most sympathetic. Thus encouraged, Brontoneau allows his wife to go her own way and settles down to a hopefully blissful romantic relationship with Louise. All this changes when the wife's lover tires of her and she tearfully returns to Brontoneau, begging forgiveness. The banker is all for remaining with Louise, but his employees, shocked at such impropriety, try to arrange a reconciliation between Monsieur and Madame Brotoneau. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Josette Day, Marguerite Pierry, (more)
- 1939
The English-language title of this French diversion is The Man Who Seeks the Truth. Raimu stars as the modern-day Diogenes, a wealthy banker who feigns deafness to test the love and loyalty of his friends and relatives. Not surprisingly, Raimu is sorely disappointed by what he finds out, especially when his mistress Jacqueline Delubac, the only person he thoroughly believes in, turns out to be just as two-faced as everybody else. The first French film to be completed since the outbreak of WWII, L'Homme Qui Cherche la Verite deals with the current international crisis by studiously ignoring it. The film was directed by Hungarian native Alexandre Esway, who shortly thereafter temporarily abandoned movies to serve in the French Foreign Legion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jacqueline Delubac, Gabrielle Dorziat, (more)
- 1938
This French melodrama was originally released in 1938 as Education de Prince. Comic actor Fernand Charpin plays the Bargekeeper, whose daughter (Josette Day) falls in love with prince-in-exile Sascha (Robert Lynen). Wealthy baron Cercieux (Louis Jouvet) raises enough money to restore Sascha to his throne, but this will require a marriage of convenience to a worthy member of royalty. Refusing to renounce his sweetheart, Sascha cleverly arranges to ascend to the throne and marry the girl of his dreams -- but it takes a heap of operetta-style plotting to do so. By the time the New York censors were finished with The Barge-Keeper's Daughter, it had been shorn by nearly three reels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvire Popesco, Josette Day, (more)
- 1938
The inimitable Fernandel stars as Barnabe in this French musical farce. Most of the action takes place at a huge chateau, where Barnabe, the assistant to a big-time theatrical producer, has been assigned to stage a big show in honor of an upcoming society wedding. Thanks to series of bizarre misunderstandings, Barnabe is mistaken for the bridegroom, a Gallic nobleman whom no one -- not even the bride -- has ever seen. Confusion reigns supreme when the bride's true love shows up, also claiming to be the missing nobleman. Even after the final fadeout, the audience will have quite a time determining who ends up married to whom. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paulette Dubost, Fernandel, (more)
- 1937
In this satire of British-American relations, Edward G. Robinson stars as Dan Armstrong, a hard-sell American saleman whose company sends him to England to learn how to tone down his act. There he meets some distant relatives, the aristocrats Sir Peter and Lady Challoner (Arthur Wontner and Annie Esmond). They invite him to their mansion for the weekend, where among the house guests are the penniless aristocrats the Duke and Duchess of Glenavon (Nigel Bruce and Constance Collier) and their daughter Lady Patricia (Luli Deste), as well as a conniving stockbroker, Henry Graham Manningdale (Ralph Richardson). The Duke and Duchess own only an apparently worthless mine in Rhodesia that supposedly contains a metal called magnelite. Manningdale says that he will develop the mine in exchange for permission to marry Lady Patricia. Armstrong also has designs on Patricia, however, and he engineers a scheme to start a company and sell stock in the mine. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edward G. Robinson, Luli Deste, (more)
- 1937
Horse-faced Gallic comedian Fernandel plays Hercule in this tailor-made vehicle. Our hero is a somewhat simple-minded provincial lad, at large in wicked old Paris. Somehow, Hercule finds success in the world of newspaper journalism, where his talents are exploited by a crooked advertising executive (Jules Berry). Fortunately, Hercule can always depend upon the help and support of his secretary (Gaby Morlay) and her reporter boyfriend (Pierre Brasseur). Hercule was but one of seven Fernandel films to hit the screens in 1937. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gaby Morlay, Nane Germon, (more)
- 1936
This interesting early docu-drama offers a complete chronicle of the history of aviation from prehistoric times through the mid 1930s. Though the film was finished by 1935, it was not released until much later. H.G. Wells assisted on the first drafts of the script. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
In this drama, a reporter loses his job after he writes a story criticizing the police department for their inefficiency in locating missing people. He then takes a wager from a rival reporter who claims that he cannot stay in hiding for a month. If he wins, he will have a new job at a rival paper. If he loses, he must give up a sweepstakes ticket. En route to his hiding place, his car is hijacked and used in a robbery. As a result his picture is put in every newspaper. He begins drifting about and even works in a carnival for a while. He finally meets a lovely girl who helps him win the bet and get a newspaper job. His sweepstakes ticket wins him $150,000. Later he marries the girl. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Chandler, Gene Gerrard, (more)
- 1935
This musical features the BBC bandleader trying to deal with his musicians in the recording studio. Meanwhile, outside the studio, his music helps save a band in the jungle from cannibals, helps a group of mountain climbers get out of a foggy area, and starts and ends relationships. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
The legendary Billy Wilder made his debut as a director with this comedy, shot in France (in collaboration with Alexander Esway) shortly before Wilder emigrated to the United States. Henry (Pierre Mingland) is a carefree young man who has fallen out of favor with his wealthy father, a doctor. Short on money and looking for excitement, Henry becomes involved with a gang of car thieves, and gets to know Jeanette (Danielle Darrieux), sister of the gang's leader who often acts as a decoy to distract young men with new cars as the thieves do their work. Henry soon falls in love with Jeanette, but discovers a life of crime is a bit more dangerous than he was counting on. Mauvaise Graine would prove to be Wilder's last European film; he wouldn't direct again for another nine years, when he made The Major and the Minor after establishing himself as a top screenwriter. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danielle Darrieux
- 1931
In this crime drama, a gangster murders his own girlfriend and kidnaps a wealthy socialite. He takes her to his boat and holds her for ransom. Fortunately, an ace reporter follows his tracks and manages to save the girl. When faced with his own capture, the gangster chooses to kill himself instead. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1930
Innocent Binnie (Elissa Landi) happens to be the spitting image of Lia Monta (also Elissa Landi), a less-than-innocent famous actress. When Lia skeedaddles to Berlin with a cache of stolen jewels, Binnie takes her look-alike's place on stage. She falls in love with Lia's sweetheart Gordon (John Stuart) but runs into trouble with her double's no-good husband Jeffrey (John Longden). When the police discover that the jewels are stolen, poor Binnie is arrested for the crime. She eventually clears herself, but only after vowing never again to pretend to be anything other than what she is. Outside of the pleasurable spectacle of watching Elissa Landi essay a dual role, the most entertaining aspect of Children of Chance is its comedy relief, courtesy of Wallace Lupino and Gus McNaughton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elissa Landi, Mabel Poulton, (more)
- 1929
In this romantic comedy, a poor but honest young woman finds an aristocrat's missing necklace. She returns it to the lady and is given a reward which she uses to buy a taxi. The lady's son has a crush on the girl and gets hired on as her driver. Romance ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
