Inside Soviet Film Satire is a lively collection of sixteen original essays by Soviet, American and Canadian scholars and film commentators. It is the first indepth examination of an important genre within the Soviet film tradition. From its origins, humour and satire have been closely linked in Soviet cinema. Nowhere in this tradition is there the pure comic genre typified in the West in films by Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton; by contrast, Soviet comedy can best be described as 'laughter with a lash'. Films made during the early years of the communist regime depicted characters and situations at a moment when the promise of socialism had yet to be realised. By the final years of totalitarian rule, filmmakers had found ways to create satirical films that powerfully indicted communism itself.

"...provides insightful cross-cultural readings of the often elusive genre of satire." Dina Iordanova, Slavic and East European Journal