Like Milos Forman, acclaimed director Evald Schorm (1931-1988) can be associated with that same blend of critical realism that bandied itself proudly in Czechoslovakia's New Wave Cinema. In 1964's Everyday Courage, Schorm would deal with the ramifications of Stalinism and went so far, as to provide a seemingly sympathetic portrait of a party dogmatist who ends up a lonely and bewildered man. Schorm's subsequent film Return of the Prodigal Son (1966) was a riveting account of what it is like to be alienated, it tells the story of an intellectual man during his darkest hours of suicidal ideation. The academe's problems lie in his refusal to adapt to or accept compromise even if it was 'consecrated by a great cause.'
Czechoslovakia's cultural revival during the years 1963-1965 would summon a new interest in classical literature and the avant-garde theatrical traditions of the Thirties, Notable films based on pre-war works included adaptations of the epic 1931 novel Marketa Lazarova by Vladislav Vancura, the filmic interpretation was released in 1967, set in thirteenth century Bohemia and Jiri Menzel's affectionate story of strolling players in a small town. Rozmarne leto (Capricious Summer,1968). Jaromil Jires made a late entry with his optically elaborate version of Nezval's surrealist vampire novel, Valerie a tyden (1970). There was no refuting the influence of one Franz Kafka of several of the films released during this significant period of Czech cinema.