Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    Banner
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
      • Playlists
    • Television
      • Shows by Decade
        • 1950s Television
        • 1960s Television
        • 1970s Television
        • 1980s Television
        • 1990s Television
      • Shows by Genre
        • Comedy
        • Drama
        • Kids TV
        • Variety
        • News & Sport
        • Advertisements
      • Shows by Country
        • UK TV
        • USA TV
        • Australia & NZ TV
        • Canada TV
        • Europe TV
        • Japan TV
      • Shows A to K
        • Shows A
        • Shows B
        • Shows C
        • Shows D
        • Shows E
        • Shows F
        • Shows G
        • Shows H
        • Shows I
        • Shows J
        • Shows K
      • Shows L to Z
        • Shows L
        • Shows M
        • Shows N
        • Shows O
        • Shows P
        • Shows Q
        • Shows R
        • Shows S
        • Shows T
        • Shows U
        • Shows V
        • Shows W
        • Shows X
        • Shows Y
        • Shows Z
      • Shows 0 to 9
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • 1950s Music
        • 1960s Music
        • 1970s Music
        • 1980s Music
        • 1990s Music
      • Music A to K
        • Music A
        • Music B
        • Music C
        • Music D
        • Music E
        • Music F
        • Music G
        • Music H
        • Music I
        • Music J
        • Music K
      • Music L to Z
        • Music L
        • Music M
        • Music N
        • Music O
        • Music P
        • Music Q
        • Music R
        • Music S
        • Music T
        • Music U
        • Music V
        • Music W
        • Music X
        • Music Y
        • Music Z
      • Music 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • 1950s Movies
          • Movies 1950
          • Movies 1951
          • Movies 1952
          • Movies 1953
          • Movies 1954
          • Movies 1955
          • Movies 1956
          • Movies 1957
          • Movies 1958
          • Movies 1959
        • 1960s Movies
          • Movies 1960
          • Movies 1961
          • Movies 1962
          • Movies 1963
          • Movies 1964
          • Movies 1965
          • Movies 1966
          • Movies 1967
          • Movies 1968
          • Movies 1969
        • 1970s Movies
          • Movies 1970
          • Movies 1971
          • Movies 1972
          • Movies 1973
          • Movies 1974
          • Movies 1975
          • Movies 1976
          • Movies 1977
          • Movies 1978
          • Movies 1979
        • 1980s Movies
          • Movies 1980
          • Movies 1981
          • Movies 1982
          • Movies 1983
          • Movies 1984
          • Movies 1985
          • Movies 1986
          • Movies 1987
          • Movies 1988
          • Movies 1989
        • 1990s Movies
          • Movies 1990
          • Movies 1991
          • Movies 1992
          • Movies 1993
          • Movies 1994
          • Movies 1995
          • Movies 1996
          • Movies 1997
          • Movies 1998
          • Movies 1999
      • Movies A to K
        • Movies A
        • Movies B
        • Movies C
        • Movies D
        • Movies E
        • Movies F
        • Movies G
        • Movies H
        • Movies I
        • Movies J
        • Movies K
      • Movies L to Z
        • Movies L
        • Movies M
        • Movies N
        • Movies O
        • Movies P
        • Movies Q
        • Movies R
        • Movies S
        • Movies T
        • Movies U
        • Movies V
        • Movies W
        • Movies X
        • Movies Y
        • Movies Z
      • Movies 0 to 9
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Radio
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»1960s Movies»Movies 1962
    Movies 1962 Movies L 2 Mins Read

    Lolita (1962)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    “How could they make a movie of Lolita?” the adverts for Stanley Kubrick’s film demanded. The answer was, they did – up to a point.

    A significant difference between Vladimir Nabokov’s screenplay and his best-selling novel is that the age of the nymphet in the book has been raised into the teens from 12 to make it more palatable to movie audiences, thereby changing Humbert Humbert’s “perverse passion” into something less shocking.

    This alteration, and the reduction of the American landscape’s importance in the novel (the film was shot in England) did not diminish the impact of this acerbic tragi-comedy. Apart from the obvious differences between the novel and the film, the story is basically the same.

    Humbert Humbert (James Mason), a middle-aged professor of French literature at an American university, rents a room for the summer in the house of Charlotte Haze (Shelley Winters), a snobbish widow whose 14-year-old daughter Lolita (Sue Lyon) he finds irresistibly attractive.

    He marries the leopard-print-clad mother to be closer to the daughter, and Charlotte dies in a freak accident shortly after learning the truth. Humbert takes the girl on a long car trip across America but is dogged all the way by eccentric playwright Clare Quilty (Peter Sellers). Although outwardly peculiar, Quilty is shrewd and calculating and it doesn’t take him long to guess Humbert’s true purpose.

    Both Mason and Sellers play their off-beat roles to perfection, and Shelley Winters touchingly and humorously suggests emotional starvation and middlebrow pretensions.

    Sixteen-year-old Sue Lyon, in her first film, wonderfully catches Lolita’s blend of gum-chewing vulnerability and quivering animal tenderness and sensuality.

    Humbert Humbert
    James Mason
    Lolita Haze
    Sue Lyon
    Charlotte Haze
    Shelley Winters
    Clare Quilty
    Peter Sellers
    Jean Farlow
    Diana Decker
    John Farlow
    Jerry Stovin
    Dick
    Gary Cockrell
    Vivian Darkbloom
    Marianne Stone
    Mona Farlow
    Suzanne Gibbs
    Lorna
    Roberta Shore
    Roy
    Eric Lane

    Director
    Stanley Kubrick

    Related Posts

    • Last Tycoon, The (1976)
      Last Tycoon, The (1976)
      This unloved film from a late-career Elia Kazan is about a young movie producer making his way up the ladder…
    • Hands of a Stranger (1962)
      Hands of a Stranger (1962)
      This remake of a 1924 silent film called The Hands of Orlac and the 1935 Peter Lorre film Mad Love…
    • Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)
      Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)
      This exuberant 1986 sci-fi musical film version of Little Shop Of Horrors came from an off-Broadway stage hit based, in turn, on…
    • Letter to Brezhnev (1985)
      Letter to Brezhnev (1985)
      It's the 1980s - a time of massive unemployment and recession in the UK, with the Cold War still in…
    • Last Emperor, The (1987)
      Last Emperor, The (1987)
      The Last Emperor is a spectacular epic about China's last emperor, Pu Yi,  who lived a cloistered life until the age…
    • Lenny (1974)
      Lenny (1974)
      Filthy-mouthed, heroin-addicted sociopath Lenny Bruce is not the kind of heroic biographical subject that draws crowds, but Bob Fosse's tight…
    • Sodom and Gomorrah (1962)
      Sodom and Gomorrah (1962)
      Somewhere about 1900 BC, the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah got brimstoned because, says St Paul, of the "vile…
    • Jigsaw (1962)
      Jigsaw (1962)
      Called in to investigate an apparently minor crime (the theft of a file of leases from a local estate agent),…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleLove-Ins, The (1967)
    Next Article Loved One, The (1965)

    Comments are closed.

    NC Radio Player
    Search the site

    Nostalgia Central has been a labour of love since 1998. The site carries no advertising, and I rely on donations to help with running costs and to keep the site running for your entertainment and education.

    If you find the site informative or enjoyable, please consider a donation – no matter how small. 

    Thank you so much.
    Enjoy your trip in the time machine!

    You may also like

    • Longest Day, The (1962)
      Longest Day, The (1962)
      This epic film depicts the Allied D-Day landings at Normandy on 6 June 1944 - the turning point of World…
    • Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)
      Little Shop Of Horrors (1986)
      This exuberant 1986 sci-fi musical film version of Little Shop Of Horrors came from an off-Broadway stage hit based, in turn, on…
    • Last Emperor, The (1987)
      Last Emperor, The (1987)
      The Last Emperor is a spectacular epic about China's last emperor, Pu Yi,  who lived a cloistered life until the age…
    • Lord of the Rings, The (1978)
      Lord of the Rings, The (1978)
      Stanley Kubrick, John Boorman and Walt Disney had all taken a run at making a movie of Lord of the…


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Copyright © 1998, 2023 Nostalgia Central. Run by volunteers. Funded by donations.
    • About Nostalgia Central
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.