Milos Forman's first film combines two short features--Do We Need All Those Brass Bands? and The Audition. Together they provide a key to Forman's style as it was to develop in Loves of a Blonde and The Fireman's Ball. His delicate, insightful and often hilarious narrative treatment of “the generation gap” complements a strong documentary feel left over from the films' documentary origins. The first segment deals with two bands rehearsing for a competition; among the bands' tradition-bound older members are two youngsters who bolt at the first opportunity and find themselves shut out by their colleagues. The Audition follows two amateur singers vying for a spot in a Prague cabaret show. (Forman would return to this scene in his first American film, Taking Off.) Forman's co-writer on this film was Ivan Passer, who also co-wrote Loves of a Blonde and went on to become a noted director (Intimate Lighting, Cutter's Way).