May 1945. On the outskirts of Prague, ordinary people meet Soviet soldiers-liberators with tears of joy in their eyes. In the early days of the lull, someone sadly recalls a pre-war life; someone unexpectedly meets his love; someone is returning from enemy dungeons looking hopefully into the future; and someone, having moved from a tank into a Czech tram, warmly recalls his craft as a car driver... These days, all those who survived the Great War fire swear an oath to keep peace on Earth forever, honoring the memory of those who gave their lives for simple human happiness.

Lovely overview of traditional Slovak Christmas.

Czechoslovak historical film about Saint Wenceslas. It was the most expensive Czech film to date, with the largest set constructed in Europe to accommodate an all-star cast of over a hundred, together with 1,000 extras for the lavish battle scenes.

Anuška Klímová rejects the attentions of rich landowner Topol - a coarse and violent man. The girl is in love with Karel Nebeský. The gamekeeper Novák catches a thief red-handed on the estate. Topol makes use of this turn of events by allowing him to escape and telling the gamekeeper to plant the bag full of stolen items in Karel's cottage. The game keeper is given a bonus in his pay as a reward so that he can marry his girlfriend Vlasta. Karel is arrested and sentenced. Anuška, whose father owes money to Topol, is forced into marriage with the landowner. In prison Karel has fed his hatred of all people and, on his release, he builds a log cabin in the woods and lives there alone with his faithful dog. His female company is short-lived. Helena, a girl from the town, lives with him for a while out of a longing for some kind of adventure but she soon goes off with a rich dandy.

The first part of the "Hussite Revolutionary Trilogy", completed with Jan Žižka (1955) and Proti všem (Against All Odds, 1957). The film captures the period from May 1412 to the summer of 1415, a turbulent time in the Czech Kingdom, during which there were protests in Prague against the sale of "omnipotent indulgences" whose sale throughout the kingdom was announced by Pope John XXIII. The ideological leader of this movement is the preacher Master Jan Hus, whose words, calling for the elimination of church abuses, are listened to in the Bethlehem Chapel by thousands of ordinary Praguers, Czech lords and Queen Sophie, wife of the Czech King Wenceslas IV.

A lyrical tale of the pure, vernal romance between a diffident, somewhat naive girl from a rural backwater and a fairly dissolute, but kind-hearted law student from Prague.