Lolita

( 7 )

Overview

"How did they make a movie out of Lolita?" teased the print ads of this Stanley Kubrick production. The answer: by adding three years to the title character's age. The original Vladimir Nabokov novel caused no end of scandal by detailing the romance between a middle-aged intellectual and a 12-year-old nymphet. The affair is "cleansed" ever so slightly in the film by making Lolita a 15-year-old portrayed by 16-year-old Sue Lyon. In adapting his novel to film, Nabokov downplayed the wicked satire and sensuality of ...
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Overview

"How did they make a movie out of Lolita?" teased the print ads of this Stanley Kubrick production. The answer: by adding three years to the title character's age. The original Vladimir Nabokov novel caused no end of scandal by detailing the romance between a middle-aged intellectual and a 12-year-old nymphet. The affair is "cleansed" ever so slightly in the film by making Lolita a 15-year-old portrayed by 16-year-old Sue Lyon. In adapting his novel to film, Nabokov downplayed the wicked satire and sensuality of the material, concentrating instead on the story's farcical aspects. James Mason plays professor Humbert Humbert, who while waiting to begin a teaching post in the United States rents a room from blowzy Shelley Winters. Winters immediately falls for the worldly Humbert, but he only has eyes for his landlady's nubile daughter Lolita. The professor goes so far as to marry Winters so that he can remain near to the object of his ardor. Turning up like a bad penny at every opportunity is smarmy TV writer Quilty Peter Sellers, who seems inordinately interested in Humbert's behavior. When Winters happens to read Humbert's diary, she is so revolted by his lustful thoughts that she runs blindly into the street, where she is struck and killed by a car. Without telling Lolita that her mother is dead, Humbert packs her into the car and goes on a cross-country trip, dogged every inch of the way by a mysterious pursuer. Once she gets over the shock of her mother's death, Lolita is agreeable to inaugurating an affair with her stepfather this is handled very, very discreetly, despite the slavering critical assessments of 1962. But when the girl begins discovering boys her own age, she drifts away from Humbert. One day, she leaves without warning. This is humiliation enough for Humbert; but when he discovers who her secret lover really is, the results are fatal. We are prepared for the ending because the film has been framed as a flashback; what we are not prepared for is Stanley Kubrick's adroit manipulation of our sympathies and expectations. An incredibly long film considering its subject matter, Lolita is never dull, nor does it ever stoop to the sensationalism prevalent in the film's ad campaign.
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Special Features

Production notes; Theatrical trailer
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide
Of all of Stanley Kubrick's films, Lolita typically gets the lowest marks. While in many respects that's a fair assessment, it sells short the accomplishment of making a workable film of Vladimir Nabokov's novel within the restrictions of the early '60s, or any era, really. Working from a Nabokov script, Kubrick places his emphasis squarely on the novel's dark comedy. Strip the difference in age and Humbert Humbert's attitude toward Lolita becomes simply a portrait of the male psyche at its ugliest: obsessive in his idealization before Lolita reciprocates his affections, he becomes possessive and patronizing once their relationship gets underway. Capable of seeming charming and self-effacing even while he's destroying the lives of those around him, James Mason's performance holds the film together, but virtually every key role has been smartly cast. Peter Sellers is both funny and chilling as Mason's doppelganger, a man able to commit the same offenses with virtually none of the consequences. It's Winters, however, who grounds the film, her tremendously sad, all-too-recognizable character lending it a humanity lacking when she disappears from its second half. When Humbert's wanderings begin, the film itself loses its way a bit, in part due to its reliance on the interaction between Mason and Sue Lyon, who never quite displays the acting chops to match her appealing presence. A daring experiment, and in many respects a successful one, Kubrick's film is ultimately unable to maintain the uncomfortable intensity of its early domestic scenes, but still has much more going for it than its reputation as an interesting failure would suggest.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 10/23/2007
  • UPC: 012569648661
  • Original Release: 1962

    • Rating:

  • Source: Warner Home Video
  • Region Code: 1
  • Time: 2:33:00
  • Format: DVD
  • Sales rank: 21,230

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
James Mason Humbert Humbert
Shelley Winters Charlotte Haze
Peter Sellers Clare Quilty
Sue Lyon Lolita Haze
Gary Cockrell Dick Schiller
Marianne Stone Vivian Darkbloom
Diana Decker Jean Farlow
Jerry Stovin John Farlow
Suzanne Gibbs Mona Farlow
Roberta Shore Lorna
Shirley Douglas Mrs. Starch
Roland Brand Bill
Colin Maitland Charlie
Cec Linder Physician
Irvin Allen Hospital Attendant
Lois Maxwell Nurse Mary Lore
William E. Greene Swine
C. Denier Warren Potts
John Harrison Tom
James Dyrenforth Beale Senior
Terry Kilburn Man
Copper Penny
Technical Credits
Stanley Kubrick Director
Bill Andrews Art Director
Gene Coffin Costumes/Costume Designer
Denys Coop Camera Operator
Rene Dupont Asst. Director
James B. Harris Editor, Producer
Anthony Harvey Editor
Peter James Set Decoration/Design
Andrew Low Set Decoration/Design
Oswald Morris Cinematographer
Nelson Riddle Score Composer
Vladimir Nabokov Original Story
George Partleton Makeup
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Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Lolita
1. Polished Credits [2:06]
2. Sore Loser at Ping-Pong [4:59]
3. Portrait of Death [5:10]
4. Charlotte Haze [4:21]
5. The Decisive Factor: Lolita [2:00]
6. At the Drive-In [:39]
7. Bedtime for Lolita [:46]
8. Getting Relaxed [:23]
9. The Summer Dance [3:30]
10. A Daughter With a Lovely Name [4:53]
11. Something Cozier [4:02]
12. A Charming Evening's End [3:49]
13. Poetry for Breakfast [5:50]
14. A Glorius Surprise [1:42]
15. "Don't Forget Me" [2:07]
16. Charlotte's Confession [2:21]
17. The Happy Couple [6:24]
18. Lolita Calling [2:24]
19. Death Wish [3:25]
20. An Open Book [2:57]
21. The Accident [2:38]
22. Bathtub Grief [3:09]
23. Retrieving Lolita [3:19]
24. A Good Deal Together [5:10]
25. Two Normal Guys [5:28]
26. Comes the Cot [4:23]
27. A Game Idea [3:40]
28. Breaking Sad News [3:11]
29. Cross My Heart [3:26]
30. Father/Daughter Spat [5:18]
31. Dr. Zemf's Visit [6:59]
32. Revelations at the Play [2:26]
33. Family Rown [7:13]
34. On the Road Again [1:37]
35. Mystery Car [5:33]
36. The Hospital [3:30]
37. Midnight Caller [2:16]
38. In Care of Her Uncle [4:05]
39. Three Years Later [8:29]
40. Plans to Relocate [2:48]
41. "Come Away With Me Now" [3:18]
42. Epilogue [1:19]
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Menu

Disc #1 -- Lolita
   Jump to a Scene
   Awards
   Theatrical Trailer
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 7 )
Rating Distribution

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(4)

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Sort by: Showing all of 7 Customer Reviews

  • Posted July 12, 2011

    A Man and a Girl with twist and turns of LOVE!!

    This movie yet in black and white was still great!! The actors were exactly like the book except for Lolita who seemed more like 18 than 12 which is the age she depicts in the book but this move is not horrible long and has a very fluid transition so you are sure not to get lost. Humbert's past is not really explained in this book but you do feel his genuine obsession with Lolita come out in the movie. A must see for fans of the book!!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    A love story disgusted with love.

    Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita", scripted by the novel's author Vladimir Nabokov, has managed to make a place for itself in the hearts of Humberts everywhere. It's filled with marvelous performances: James Mason as the tormented Humbert Peter Sellers as the degenerate writer Clare Quilty, who, in various disguises, chases Humbert and his Lotita as they journey across the American wasteland Shelley Winters as Lolita's mother,the repellent, hopelessly middle-brow Charlotte Haze, whom Humbert expediently marries. The film only hints at sex--a response, presumably to the realities of releasing movies in the early '60s. Fortunately, Nabokov was an ideal choice by Kubrick hired to write the screenplay, which helped keep "Lolita" from slipping into the exercise in sensationalism it might, very easily, have become. But "Lolita" the film is more a work of personal expression for it's director. His great theme--classical art, and its relationship to our lives--permeates "Lolita", as does his later works including "A Clockwork Orange", in which the protagonist beats a woman to death with a statue of Beethoven while listening to the Fifth Symphony. Even in his earlier work, Kubrick was defining his statement about he humanities: they do little to make us more human. Therefore, "Lolita" may not have offered a film version of what was most fascinating in the book is was based on, but it did provide audiences with yet another work of sophisticated entertainment that would have been impossible to make only a few years earlier. [filmfactsman]

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Kubrick, What Can't You Do?

    This blazingly terrific motion picture is many things, it's Peter Sellers breakthrough performance, it's a milestone in film history, and it's one of Kubrick's best. The movie is excellent, from the perfect first half, to the downbeat second half Kubrick has created a work of art here. This movie is now a cult classic and arguably one of the milestone provocative pictures. You read it, you can't unread it, this has been a review.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    movie movie

    this is what the medium film was invented for: wonderful storytelling, wonderful images. thank god its black and white. please dont watch the remake. why remake such a masterpiece is beyond me anyway... after long deliberation, still my favorite movie!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 8, 2008

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 24, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 24, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

Sort by: Showing all of 7 Customer Reviews