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:

black humor | based on novel | professor | nymphet | writer | 

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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

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English French Spanish German

Release Date:

14 December 1962 (Finland)

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

During filming, James Mason realised Peter Sellers was stealing the picture. He confided in friends, had he known, he should have insisted on playing Quilty himself.

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Goofs

Punctuation error in the opening credits: a line reads, "Miss Winter's costumes by Gene Coffin". It should be "Miss Winters' costumes by Gene Coffin".

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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 scene where Lolita first "seduces" Humbert as he lies in the cot is a good 10 seconds longer in the British cut of the film. In the U.S. cut, the shot fades as she whispers the details of the "game" she played with Charlie at camp. In the U.K. print, the shot continues as Humbert mumbles that he's not familiar with the game. She then bends down again to whisper more details. Kubrick then cuts to a closer shot of Lolita's head as she says "Well, allrighty then" and then fades as she begins to descend to Humbert on the cot. The British cut of the film was used for the Region 1 DVD release.

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Connections

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

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Soundtracks

There's No You
(uncredited)
By Tom Adair and Hal Hopper

User Reviews

A controversial masterpiece

Inspired by the eponymous novel (Vladimir Nabokov, 1955), this film admirably describes the sulfurous relationship between a middle-aged writer and his nymph Dolores Haze, aka Lolita.

By chance, looking for a furnished rental, the professor Humbert Humbert encounters Charlotte Haze and her beloved daughter Dolores. From the very first sight, the professor irrevocably accepts the rental conditions! A triangular relationship settles quickly between 1) an intellectual sensitive to beauty and youth, 2) a desperate widow impressed by this professor, both unable to fight against theirs own obsessive desires, and 3) a manipulative and nonchalant teen. Consecutively to a fatal accident and because of the inquisitive and invasive look of Clare Quilty, the teacher will progressively and ineluctably descend in the depths of the abyss.

James Mason is awesome and monumental. He is also excellently seconded by Sue Lyon, Peter Sellers and Shelley Winters. And Stanley Kubrick is definitely a regular of successful and even improved literary adaptations, with Shining (1980), 2001, A space odyssey (1968), Barry Lyndon (1975), A clockwork orange (1971), The Killing (1956), ...

This movie is truly a masterpiece.