‘Some Like it Hot,’ ‘Dr. Strangelove’ among films in Buffalo Film Seminars’ fall lineup

The classic comedies “Some Like it Hot” and “Dr. Strangelove” are among the offerings this fall for the 47th edition of the Buffalo Film Seminars.

The popular series, hosted by UB faculty members Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian, continues remotely this fall, with online screenings and discussions of the films.

The weekly discussions will take place via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays from Aug. 29 through Dec. 5.

An email notification about each film will be sent out on the Saturday before the Zoom discussion date to students registered for Christian and Jackson’s “Film Directors” class (ENG 381), as well as to the Department of English’s Discussion List and to the Buffalo Film Seminars’ listserv (email Jackson or Christian to get on the BFS listserv). That notice will include a URL for the pair’s Vimeo introduction to the film and a PDF of that week’s Goldenrod Handout. The notice will also include an invitation to the Zoom discussion.

All of the films in the series, except for “Nostalghia” are accessible on Amazon Prime; many are also available on other streaming services, such as Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, Criterion and Vudu. “Nostalghia is available on YouTube and Apple TV for a $3.99 rental fee. Check Justwatch.com for listings.

All films in the fall 2023 series, except “Vampyr,” are available for free streaming to UB email account holders via the UB Libraries’ film portals. The Swank and Kanopy links for those films are included in the lineup below. Many public and university libraries provide their card-holders free streaming access to films in the Swank and Kanopy catalogs.

The series opens on Aug. 29 with “The Gold Rush,” the classic 1925 silent film written by, directed by and starring Charles Chaplin. A prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall. The Thanksgiving dinner scene was cited by Jackson and Christian in a 2016 UBNow story as one of the great silent comedy scenes by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Watch here.

The remainder of the fall 2023 schedule, with descriptions culled from the IMDb online movie database and other sources:

• Sept. 5: “Vampyr,” 1932, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. A drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
• Sept. 12: “Golddiggers,” 1933, directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Watch here. A wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play but insists on remaining anonymous.
• Sept. 19: “Ninotchka,” 1939, directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Watch here. A stern Soviet woman sent to Paris to supervise the sale of jewels seized from Russian nobles finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest. Stars Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas.

• Sept. 26: “The Red Shoes,” 1948, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Watch here. A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her dream of becoming a prima ballerina.
• Oct. 3: “Seven Samurai,” 1954, directed by Akira Kurosawa. Watch here. Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
• Oct. 17: “Some Like it Hot,” 1959, directed by Billy Wilder. Watch here. After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state disguised as women in an all-female band, but further complications set in. Stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.
• Oct. 24: “Dr. Strangelove,” 1964, directed by Stanley Kubrick. Watch here. An insane American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.

• Oct. 31: “The Man Who Would be King,” 1975, directed by John Huston. Watch here. Two former British soldiers in 1880s India decide to set themselves up as kings in Kafiristan, a land where no white man has set foot since Alexander the Great.

• Nov. 7: “Nostalghia,” 1983, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Watch here. A Russian poet and his interpreter travel to Italy researching the life of an 18th-century composer and instead meet a contemplative madman who tells the poet how the world may be saved.
• Nov. 14: “In the Mood for Love,” 2000, directed by Wong Kar-wei. Watch here. Two neighbors form a strong bond after both suspect their spouses of extramarital activities, but agree to keep their bond platonic so as not to commit similar wrongs.
• Nov. 21: “Talk to Her,” 2002, directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Watch here. Two men share an odd friendship while caring for two women who are both in deep comas.
• Nov. 28: “The 25th Hour,” 2002, directed by Spike Lee. Watch here. Cornered by the DEA, a convicted drug dealer reevaluates his life in the 24 hours remaining before facing a seven-year jail term.
• Dec. 5: “The Great Gatsby,” 2013, directed by Baz Luhrmann. Watch here. A writer and Wall Street trader finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbor, Jay Gatsby.