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This is part 4 of 12 of my retrospective of Stanley Kubrick’s career.

At last Stanley Kubrick was able to independently make a movie on his own. Also, from this point on, all of his movies are part of the Stanley Kubrick Collection DVD Set I acquired many years ago.

As you can expect, he had to do something controversial by commissioning Vladimir Nabokov to adapt his book “Lolita” into a screenplay. How can a movie released in the early 60s in England have as its main subject pedophilia?

Unlike his previous movies, the cinematography is subdued. There are some interesting sets, like the prologue (and conclusion) and the high school dance, but otherwise the imagery is somewhat bland. What shines though is the screenplay and acting.

Given the taboo subject matter, even with the subtle change of age of Lolita from 12 to 14, nothing is explicitly or implicitly shown. Also, everything related to sexual matters are told by double meanings. But this gives a great chance for the actors to play out not only these, but various kinds of misunderstandings and lies.

It is quite clear that the characters are not shown into under sympathetic light. Quite on the contrary, the main character and pedophile Dr. Humbert is shown in a half pathethic and comedic way by the childish way he falls in love with Lolita. And she doesn’t escape either, since she ends up doing the first seduction move consentually. Actually, all the main characters are shown to be weird, messed up and ridiculous. Charlotte, the mother of Lolita, is shown as a controlling mother and desperate at seducing Humbert. Peter Sellers as Quilty is downright creepy.

James Mason does a tour de force as Dr. Humbert, acting as a strange, romantic and nervous writer. While there is some narration done by Mason, most of the acting is done through dialogue, with Dr. Humbert struggling between is inner feelings and what he has to expose to others. A note has to be made of the very good music, which seems to present the inner emotions of Dr. Humbert in many scenes, with undertones of ridicule.

The only criticism I could make is that, while the dialog and acting are good, the movie is a little bit too long at over 150 minutes. Compared to the tight pacing of Spartacus, Lilita felt slow at times. Otherwise, this is a great showcase of good writing and acting that will make you cringe and smile.