"Citizen Kane" Among Films to Be Screened in "Buffalo Film Seminars"

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- "Citizen Kane," considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made, will be among the offerings in the ninth edition of "Buffalo Film Seminars," the semester-long series of screenings and discussions sponsored by UB and the Market Arcade Film and Arts Center.

The series will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays, beginning Aug. 31, in the Market Arcade, 639 Main St., in downtown Buffalo. It is hosted by Diane Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of English, and Bruce Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Samuel P. Capen Professor of American Culture in the Department of American Studies.

Christian and Jackson will introduce each film. Following a short break at the end of each film, they will lead a discussion of the film.

The screenings are part of "Contemporary Cinema" (Eng 401), an undergraduate course being taught by the pair. The screenings also are open to the public.

The series will open on Tuesday with two films starring Buster Keaton -- "Sherlock, Jr.," a 1924 silent film that Keaton directed, as well as starred in, and "Steamboat Bill, Jr.," a 1928 film directed by Charles Reisner. Philip Carli will accompany the films on the electric piano.

The series will continue on Sept. 7 with "My Man Godfrey," a 1936 screwball comedy directed by Gregory La Cava and starring William Powell and Carole Lombard.

The remainder of the schedule:

• Sept. 14: "My Darling Clementine," 1946, directed by John Ford. Retelling of the Earp/Clanton feud and the famous showdown at the OK Corral. Stars Henry Ford as Wyatt Earp and Victor Mature as "Doc" Holliday.

• Sept. 21: "Odd Man Out," 1947, directed by Carol Reed. While controversial on its release, the Irish rebel theme of this film is still popular today. Features a powerful performance by James Mason as a wounded rebel gang leader who is passed among hideouts.

• Sept. 28: "The Red Shoes," 1948, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. A ballerina is torn between the demands of the company and those of her heart.

• Oct. 5: "Floating Weeds," 1959, directed by Yasujiro Ozu. All the elements of a Shakespearean tragedy -- deceit, jealousy, betrayal, vengeance, love and hope -- are played out in this film of the lives of members of a troupe of traveling players.

• Oct. 12: "The Misfits," 1961, directed by John Huston. Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach star in this romance/drama. This film turned out to be Gable's last performance -- he suffered a massive heart attack the day after filming ended and died 11 days later.

• Oct. 19: "8 1/2." 1963, directed by Federico Fellini. An autobiographical film about the trials and tribulations of filmmaking.

• Oct. 26: "Hearts and Minds," 1974, directed by Peter Davis. A documentary of the conflicting attitudes of the opposing sides of the Vietnam War.

• Nov. 2: "Medium Cool," 1969, directed by Haskell Wexler. A television newsman finds himself personally involved in the violence surrounding the 1968 Democratic Convention.

• Nov. 9: "Badlands," 1973, directed by Terrence Malick. Dramatization of the Starkweather-Fugate killing spree of the 1950s, in which a teenage girl and her 20-something boyfriend slaughtered her entire family and several others in the Dakota badlands.

• Nov. 16: "The Mirror," 1974, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky Tarkovsky mixes flashbacks, historical footage and original poetry to illustrate the reminiscences of a dying man about his childhood during World War II.

• Nov. 23: "Barry Lyndon," 1975, directed by Stanley Kubrick. A gentlemanly rogue travels the battlefields and parlors of 18th century Europe determined to make for himself the life of a nobleman through seduction, gambling and dueling.

• Nov. 30: "Raging Bull," 1980, directed by Martin Scorsese. A biographical film about middleweight champ Jake LaMotta. Features what many consider to be Robert De Niro's greatest performance as the physically tough but emotionally destructive LaMotta.

• Dec. 7: "Citizen Kane," 1941, directed by Orson Welles. The story of fictional multimillionaire newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane.