Popular cinemas in East Central Europe
film cultures and histories

The continued interest in the social and cultural life of the former Warsaw pact countries - looking at but also beyond their socialist pasts - encompasses a desire to know more about their national cinemas. Yet, despite the increasing consumption of films from these countries - via DVD, VOD platforms and other alternative channels - there is a lack of comprehensive information on this key aspect of visual culture. This important book rectifies the glaring gap and provides both a history and a contemporary account of East Central European cinema in the pre-WW2, socialist, and post-socialist periods. Demonstrating how at different historical moments popular cinema fulfilled various roles, for example in the capacity of nation-building, and adapted to the changing markets of a morphing political landscape, chapters bring together experts in the field for the definitive analysis of mainstream cinema in the region. Celebrating the unique contribution of films from Hungary, the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia and Poland, from the award-winning Cosy Dens to cult favourite Lemonade Joe, and from 1960s Polish Westerns to Hollywood-influenced Hungarian movies, the book addresses the major themes of popular cinema. By looking closely at genre, stardom, cinema exhibition, production strategies and the relationship between the popular and the national, it charts the remarkable evolution and transformation of popular cinema over time.

Cover -- Author bio -- Endorsement -- Title page -- Copyright information -- Table of contents -- Figures -- Graphs -- Tables -- List of contributors -- Acknowledgements -- A Note on Naming Conventions -- Introduction -- Part I Politics of Popular Cinema in the Interwar Period -- 1 Czech Historical Film and Historical Traditions -- Historical Narratives Shaping The Merry Wives -- The Merry Wives: A Comedy Taking a Political Stance -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 2 Starlets and Heart-throbs -- Glamour Comedies and the Rise of the Male Stars -- Turning Toward Melodrama: The Film Industry From 1936 Onwards -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Part II Towards Socialism: Continuities and Ruptures -- 3 The Stripping of His Charms -- The Star Lead -- The Transformed Lead -- The Resisting Lead -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 4 Transformations -- From the Commercial Film Industry to the State-Owned Cinema Culture -- Hungarian Cinema for the Millions -- From Socialist Realist Operettas to Satirical Comedies -- Crime Cinema During Socialism: Mission Impossible? -- From the Precursors of the Present to Historical Adventure -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 5 Postwar Czechoslovak Comedy The Autonomisation of Parody, and Lemonade Joe (1964) -- Comedy in the Political History of Czechoslovak Cinema -- Industrial Authorship and Group Styles in the State-Socialist Production System -- Lemonade Joe: Paradoxical Historicity of Czech Film Parody -- Autonomisation of Parody -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Part III Socialist Film Cultures -- 6 How To Be Loved? Three Takes on 'The Popular' in Socialist and Non-Socialist Cinema -- 'Serious', 'Unserious', 'Art Cinema' and the 'Epic' -- Kitsch and Realism -- Notes -- 7 'Humanist Screens': Foreign Cinema in Socialist Poland (1945-56) -- Humanist Screens and Mass Audiences -- 1949: When Films Were Not Socialist Realist Enough.