Lolita (1962)

A middle-aged college professor becomes infatuated with a fourteen-year-old nymphet.

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Vladimir Nabokov (screenplay), Vladimir Nabokov (novel)

Stars:

James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Mason	...	Prof. Humbert Humbert
Shelley Winters	...	Charlotte Haze
Sue Lyon	...	Lolita
Gary Cockrell	...	Richard T. Schiller
Jerry Stovin	...	John Farlow
Diana Decker	...	Jean Farlow
Lois Maxwell	...	Nurse Mary Lore
Cec Linder	...	Physician
Bill Greene	...	George Swine
Shirley Douglas	...	Mrs. Starch
Marianne Stone	...	Vivian Darkbloom
Marion Mathie	...	Miss Lebone
James Dyrenforth	...	Frederick Beale Sr.
Maxine Holden	...	Miss Fromkiss
John Harrison	...	Tom

Storyline

Humbert Humbert forces a confrontation with a man, whose name he has just recently learned, in this man's home. The events that led to this standoff began four years earlier. Middle aged Humbert, a European, arrives in the United States where he has secured at job at Beardsley College in Beardsley, Ohio as a Professor of French Literature. Before he begins his post in the fall, he decides to spend the summer in the resort town of Ramsdale, New Hampshire. He is given the name of Charlotte Haze as someone who is renting a room in her home for the summer. He finds that Charlotte, widowed now for seven years, is a woman who puts on airs. Among the demonstration of those airs is throwing around the name of Clare Quilty, a television and stage script writer, who came to speak at her women's club meeting and who she implies is now a friend. Those airs also mask being lonely, especially as she is a sexually aggressive and liberated woman. Humbert considers Charlotte a proverbial "joke" but ...

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Plot Keywords:

based on novel | nymphet | black comedy | told in flashback | reference to edgar allan poe | 

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Taglines:

How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Though they never made another film together, James Mason and Stanley Kubrick remained friends, and Mason visited the set of The Shining (1980).

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Goofs

As Humbert brings their Ford station wagon to a screeching halt after the "blow-out", the outside view of the front of the car shows all four tires fully inflated and a license plate with AC629 on a white background. When they stopped at the gas station previously, the numbers were 17459 on a black background. The auxiliary light that was next to the left parking lamp is also now missing. As the car comes to a halt after the blow-out, Lolita is sitting in the front passenger seat instead of in the middle of the back seat. On the cut to the inside of the car afterwards, Lolita is still in the back seat.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Humbert Humbert: Quilty! Quilty?
Clare Quilty: Ah, wha? Who's there?
Humbert Humbert: Are you Quilty.
Clare Quilty: No, I'm... Spartacus. You come to free the slaves or sumpn?
Humbert Humbert: Are you Quilty?
Clare Quilty: Yeah, yeah, I'm Quilty, yeah, sure.

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Crazy Credits

The credits are played over footage of Lolita's toenails being painted.

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Alternate Versions

The Criterion laserdisc release is the only one to use a transfer approved by Stanley Kubrick. This transfer alternates between a 1.33 and a 1.66 aspect ratio (as does the Kubrick-approved 'Strangelove' transfer). All subsequent releases to date have been 1.66 (which means that all the 1.33 shots are slightly matted).

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Connections

Referenced in The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Episode #7.157 (2011)

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Soundtracks

Put Your Dreams Away
(uncredited)
By Paul Mann

User Reviews

One of the finest films of The Sixties

8/10

Kubrik's version of Nabokov's tale of a middle-aged professor's self-destructive obsession with a young schoolgirl. Making a film that dealt with underage sex was considered impossible in 1962 due to the strict censorship regulations. Kubrik manages to get round this by merely alluding to sexual encounters and subtle wordplay and symbolism creeps into several scenes. He also raises the girl's age from 12 in the novel to 14 in the film. Lolita is also rich in Kubrik's trademark dark humour.

The three central characters of the novel are all portrayed more than adequately in the film; James Mason as the smitten professor, Shelley Winters as the suburban widow with pretensions of culture and Sue Lyons as the young nymphet. However, it is Sellars' performance as the creepy eccentric Clare Quilty (a relatively minor character in the book) that steals the show and, ultimately, makes the film. The opening scene (which is the ending of the film) is an outstanding testament to his talent and versatility. The said scene gives the film the same "circular structure" used by David Lean in "Brief Encounter".

My favourite moments include; Quilty's re-introduction to the film at the school's summer ball as the camera pans across the dancefloor and subtly reveals a look of comic ambivalence on his face as he dances with his lover, Humbert awkwardly trying to book the only remaining hotel-room at the police convention and Humbert again trying to teach the cynical Lolita the joys of Edgar Allen Poe's poetry.

I thoroughly recommend this film. My only complaint is the length - the final third seemed to drag a bit.

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English French Spanish German

Release Date:

21 June 1962 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Lolita

Filming Locations:

Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,631

Company Credits

Production Co:

A.A. Productions Ltd., Anya, Harris-Kubrick Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

153 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1