Peter Hames completes the first, English-language study on the themes and traditions of Czech and Slovak cinema. Joining interwar and postwar cinema with films produced during the post-Communist period, Hames follows interactions among theme, genre, and visual style and the way in which a range of styles and traditions extend across different historical periods and political regimes. Taken altogether, Hames's microanalysis of Czech and Slovak cinema opens a unique pathway into the greater themes of Central European film history.