There are certain films and shows that resonate with audiences everywhere-they generate discussion and debate about everything from gender, class, citizenship and race, to consumerism and social identity. This new 'teachable canon' of film and television introduces students to alternative classics that range from silent film to CSI.

• The most brilliant of all the 1930s Astaire/Rogers musicals, Top Hat's wonderful dance routines, catchy Irving Berlin songs, witty dialogue, and lavish Art Deco sets have ensured its continuing popularity seventy-five years after its first screening in 1935.
• Peter William Evans's immensely readable volume uses this paradigmatic film to explore the musical genre, notions of romance and subjectivity, and the contested relations between the sexes, all set against the social-political backdrop of 1930s America
• Written in a clear, accessible style, Top Hat appeals to the student and teacher of the musical and of Hollywood film history, as well as the film-loving general reader