Sidney J. Furie has directed 50 or so films over the last 60 years. He has worked in Canada, Great Britain and Hollywood, rubbing shoulders with the on-screen stars and the off-screen movers and shakers of the business. The most influential critics of his time have praised or condemned him. Most people—at least most people of a certain age—have seen his better known films: The Ipcress File, Lady Sings the Blues, The Boys in Company C. Yet until now, no one has thought to write a book about him. Daniel Kremer, a fan, has addressed that neglect in Sidney J. Furie: Life and Films, a lengthy and detailed study that spins fact, commentary and anecdotes galore into a story in itself.
The story begins in Canada, where Furie was the only child of a Toronto Jewish family. Although Canada had almost no film industry during the 1930s and ’40s, Furie decided early in life that he...
Seth Feldman teaches film studies at York University.