Caine and Able

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 wanted to direct films. He followed that ambition into the nascent CBC television...