Lolita (1962 film)
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Lolita is a 1962 influential film by Stanley Kubrick based on the classic novel of the same title by Vladimir Nabokov. Although Kubrick's direction was generally acclaimed at the time, it has been described as a very unbalanced film, with all of the main action taking place during the first half. Despite this, today it is as just as acclaimed as any other Kubrick film.
Due to the MPAA's restrictions at the time, the film toned down the more perverse aspects of the novel, sometimes leaving much to the audience's imagination. The actress who played Lolita, Sue Lyon, was thirteen at the time of filming. Kubrick later commented that, had he realized how severe the censorship limitations were going to be, he probably never would have made the film.
Overview
Direction
With Nabokov’s consent, Kubrick changed the order in which events unfolded by moving what was the novel’s ending to the start of the film, a literary device known as in medias res. Kubrick determined that while this sacrificed a great ending, it helped maintain interest, as he believed that interest in the novel sagged halfway through once Humbert was successful in seducing Lolita."[An Interview with Stanley Kubrick (1969)]" by Joseph Gelmis. Excerpted from The Film Director as Superstar (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970).The second half contains an odyssey across the United States and though the novel was set in the 1940s Kubrick gave it a contemporary setting, shooting many of the exterior scenes in England. Some of the minor parts were played by Canadian and American actors, such as Cec Linder, Lois Maxwell, Jerry Stovin and Diana Decker, who were based in England at the time. Kubrick had to film in England as much of the money to finance the movie was not only raised there but also had to be spent there."[An Interview with Stanley Kubrick (1969)]" by Joseph Gelmis.
Censorship
The "moral values" and censorship of the time inhibited Kubrick's direction. Kubrick commented that, “because of all the pressure over the Production Code and the Catholic Legion of Decency at the time, I believe I didn't sufficiently dramatize the erotic aspect of Humbert's relationship with Lolita. If I could do the film over again, I would have stressed the erotic component of their relationship with the same weight Nabokov did.”"[An Interview with Stanley Kubrick (1969)]" by Joseph Gelmis. In a 1972 Newsweek interview, Kubrick said that had he realized how severe the censorship limitations were going to be, he "probably wouldn't have made the film.""['Lolita': Complex, often tricky and 'a hard sell']" by Jeff Edmunds.
Lolita's age was raised to fourteen, as Kubrick believed that this was the right age. He has commented that, “I think that some people had the mental picture of a nine-year-old, but Lolita was twelve and a half in the book; Sue Lyon was thirteen.”
Writting and Narration
Humbert uses the term 'nymphet' to describe Lolita, which he explains in and uses throughout the novel; it only appears once in the movie and its meaning is left undefined."[Lolita (1962)]" A Review by Tim Dirks - A comprehensive review containing extensive dialogue quotes. These quotes include other details of Humbert's narration. In a voiceover on the morning after the Ramsdale High School dance, Humbert confides in his diary, “What drives me insane is the twofold nature of this nymphet, of every nymphet perhaps, this mixture in my Lolita of tender, dreamy childishness and a kind of eerie vulgarity. I know it is madness to keep this journal, but it gives me a strange thrill to do so. And only a loving wife could decipher my microscopic script.”This voiceover is a part of Humbert’s narration, which was central to the novel. Kubrick uses it sparingly and, apart from the above comment, only to set the scene for the film’s next act. Humbert’s comments are generally simple statements of fact, spiced with the odd personal reflection.
The only other one of these reflections, which makes reference to Humbert’s feelings towards Lolita, is made after their move from Ramsdale to Beardsley. Here Humbert's comment seems to show only an interest in her education and cultural development: “Six months have passed and Lolita is attending an excellent school where it is my hope that she will be persuaded to read other things than comic books and movie romances”.
The narration begins after the opening scenes but ceases once the odyssey begins. Kubrick makes no attempt to explain Humbert's fascination with Lolita, which a full narration would have done, but merely treats it as a matter of fact. An explanation might well have made Humbert a more sympathetic character, which may not have suited a censor in 1962.
Casting
James Mason plays Professor Humbert Humbert, who falls under Lolita's spell. He is smooth, charming, self-assured and a little condescending, as might be expected in an academic. Shelley Winters plays Charlotte Haze, the loud, overbearing, status-seeking widow who is both Humbert's landlady and Lolita's mother. When she develops a romantic interest in Humbert, Charlotte's pushy advances as parried by Humbert's barely concealed sarcasm become comedic. Sue Lyon's performance as Lolita is more restrained, but this may well result from concerns about the censor. When allowed freedom to act, she subtly shows the darker side of Lolita's character. Peter Sellers' performance as Clare Quilty was generally acclaimed at the time. The character’s role was greatly expanded from that in the novel and Kubrick allowed Sellers to adopt a variety of disguises throughout the film.In the earlier sections of the film, Quilty is a conceited, avant-garde TV writer with a superior manner. In later scenes, he becomes the overbearing 'bad cop' on the porch of the motel where Humbert and Lolita are staying. Then he changes to the intrusive authoritarian German professor, Doctor Zempf, who appears in Humbert's front room for the purpose of ordering him to give Lolita more freedom in her after-school activities.[Kubrick in Nabokovland] by Thomas Allen Nelson. Excerpted from Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist's Maze (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000, pp 60–81) The author and film critic Tim Dirks has commented that Sellers' smooth German-like accent and the chair-bound pose in this scene are similar to that of Dr. Strangelove in Kubrick's future film ."[Lolita (1962)]" A Review by Tim Dirks. Thomas Allen Nelson has said that in this part of his performance, “Sellers twists his conception of Quilty toward that neo-Nazi monster, who will roll out of the cavernous shadows of Dr. Strangelove”.[Kubrick in Nabokovland] by Thomas Allen Nelson.
Screenplay
The screenplay is credited to Nabokov, although very little of what he provided (later published in a shortened version) was used. Nabokov remained polite about the film in public, but in his diary wrote that it was "a scenic drive as perceived by the horizontal passenger of an ambulance".Brian Boyd, Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years (1991).Remake
Lolita was filmed again in 1997 (see article), an attempt to avoid some of the perceived mistakes of the 1962 version. It has been clarified that the film is not a remake of the 1962 version, but another adaption of the novel. The film has been criticized, and is not as well recieved as Kubrick's version. The film was also a major box office flop, grossing only $1 million at the US box office.Reception
Lolita premiered on 13 June, 1962 in New York City. It performed fairly well, with little advertising relying mostly on word-of-mouth—-many critics seemed uninterested or dismissive of the film. The film earned many glowing reviews by prominent film critics. However, the film was very controversial, and Sue Lyon was barred from the premiere due to the film's "Adults Only" status at the time. The film was shown internationally also, in the UK, France, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, Japan, Sweden and Italy.
Years after the film's release it has been released on VHS, Laserdisc and DVD. It received $3,700,000 rentals in the USA on VHS.
Basic Plot Outline
Humbert Humbert, a divorced British professor of French literature, travels to small-town America for a teaching position. He allows himself to be swept into a relationship with Charlotte Haze, his widowed and sexually famished landlady, whom he marries in order that he might pursue the woman's 14-year-old flirtatious daughter, Lolita, with whom he has fallen hopelessly in love, but whose affections shall be thwarted by a devious trickster named Clare Quilty.Differences between the film and the book
There are many differences in the film and book. Many of the more explicit parts of the book where taken out of the film due to the strict censors of the 1960s and the events of the film do match the events of the novel exactly. One of the most notable changes is the absence of Humbert's first "normal" relationship with a woman his age named Rita. She appears in the book in period of time when Lolita was taken from Humbert. Some of the differences are listed below:
- Lolita's age was raised from 12 to 14, to meet the MPAA standards.
- The relationship between Humbert and alchoholic Rita was left out of the film.
- There is a part in the book in which Humbert and Charlotte go skinny dipping in "Hour Glass Lake" where Charlotte announces she will ship Lo off to a good boarding school; that part takes place in bed in the film version.
- In the novel, Lolita wasn't blonde; she was decribed as having short brown hair in a bob style, and honey-tanned skin. In the film Lolita has blonde shoulder legnth hair.
- Sue Lyon is very pretty, but in the novel both Charlotte and Humbert comment on Lolita's lack of conventional attractiveness, and it is hinted that this is why greater suspicion does not fall on Humbert.
Awards and Nominations
The film was nominated for 7 Awards, including a Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer which went to Sue Lyon.Nominations
- Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay-Vladimir Nabokov
- BAFTA Award for Best Actor-James Mason
- Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures-Stanley Kubrick
- Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor-James Mason
- Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress-Shelley Winters
- Golden Globe Award Best Motion Picture Director-Stanley Kubrick
- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor-Peter Sellers
- Venice Film Festivle Award for Best Director-Stanley Kubrick
Won
Alternate Versions
- The scene where Lolita first "seduces" Humbert as he lies in the cot is a good 10 seconds longer in the British and Australian 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 UK 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.
- 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).
- The BBFC cut the film in 1961 for an 'X' rating.
Actors who came close to appearing
- James Mason was the first choice of director Stanley Kubrick and producer James B. Harris for the role of Humbert Humbert, but he initially declined due to a Broadway engagement. Laurence Olivier then refused the part, apparently on the advice of his agents. Kubrick considered Peter Ustinov, but decided against him. Harris then suggested David Niven; Niven accepted the part, but then withdrew for fear the sponsors of his TV show, "Four Star Playhouse" (1952), would object. Mason then withdrew from his play and got the part. Harris denies claims that Noel Coward also rejected the role.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056193/trivia
- Tuesday Weld was considered for the role of Lolita.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056193/trivia
- Close to 800 girls auditioned for the part of Lolita Haze.
- Hayley Mills also turned down the role of Lolita. At the time, her father, John Mills was credited with the decision; later, Walt Disney.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056193/trivia
- Stanley Kubrick originally wanted Joey Heatherton for the title role of Lolita, but her father Ray Heatherton said no for fear his daughter would be typecast as a "promiscuous sex kitten".http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056193/trivia
Trivia
- Peter Sellers modeled the voice of his character Clare Quilty on that of his director, Stanley Kubrick.
- Sue Lyon was chosen for the title role partly due to the size of her breasts. Stanley Kubrick had been warned that censors felt strongly against the use of a less developed actress to portray the sexually active 13 year old.
- In the opening scene, Quilty says, "I am Spartacus," a reference to Stanley Kubrick's earlier film, Spartacus (1960).
- The famous heart-shaped sunglasses that Lolita wears appear only in publicity photos taken by Bert Stern; Lolita wears normal sunglasses in the movie.
- Since the censors would allow nothing close to a suggestion of pedophilia, Lolita's age had to be increased from 12 in Vladimir Nabokov's original novel to 14 for the film. They also objected to a scene where Humbert Humbert was to gaze at Lolita's picture while in bed with her mother Charlotte; in the end, the scene was filmed with Charlotte lying fully dressed on the bed and Humbert lying beside her wearing a robe.
- The clip they are watching at the drive-in is from Terence Fisher's The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). When it cuts to the shot of them in the car, the soundtrack from the movie is fabricated to make it seem like there is far more mayhem occurring in that movie.
Continuity errors
- When Humbert and Charlotte Haze discuss sending Lolita to a girl's camp, Charlotte holds a smoking cigarette in her left hand in some shots, but not others.
- When Humbert comes through the door in the beginning of the movie, he walks by a painting in the hall. Some moments later he shoots through the same painting on the stair case. When Quilty is first shot in the leg, a covered chair is visible at the top of the stairs, it isn't until Humbert reloads and Quilty makes it to the top of the stairs that we see the painting that he hides behind before being shot.
Notes
Bibliography
Richard Corliss, Lolita (London: British Film Institute, 1994; ISBN 0-85170-368-2). A witty exploration of the film, patterned on Pale Fire.
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