George Sidney directed a number of popular Hollywood films, such as Anchors Aweigh, Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate, and Bye Bye Birdie. His revisions of traditional Hollywood product resulted in films that remain surprisingly modern, and his work continues to influence popular culture. But despite the popularity of his films, Sidney has been a largely unheralded figure in film history. This book is the first serious, full-length study of Sidney’s life and work.

A critical introduction to the volume explains how Sidney was given a minor place in film history, despite his many significant achievements. The book examines Sidney’s canon in relation to the work of his contemporaries and reveals how he was both a Hollywood insider and an iconoclast who created mainstream films with strikingly modern sensibility. The detailed filmography provides thorough documentation for Sidney’s many features, short subjects, screen tests, documentaries, and uncredited sequences in other directors’ films. By drawing upon interviews with former coworkers, archival material, and rare stills and photographs, Monder reassesses Sidney’s career.