One year after Lolita was released, Stanley Kubrick cut his ties with producer James B. Harris after starting Doctor Strangelove., thus only making his own films. Lolita is Kubrick's apparent transition from making money type of pictures (Paths of Glory) to art (Doctor Strangelove. It seems like Humbert and Lolita are the only sane characters while everyone else is sane. As the troubled Humbert, James Mason shines, turning in a performance of emotional capacity that even generates sympathy for him. As Lolita's oddball and energetic mother, Shirley Winters also does very well; creating a sort of hate for her. Sue Lynon plays Lolita with a nice sort of childness, yet at the same time she shows a sort of maturity not usually shown done by an actress of that age. And of course there's Peter Sellers as the eccentric Clarence Quilty, who's downright hilarious and very strange. The script provides fleshed out characters, and at the same time not always letting the viewer know what's going on. Stanley Kubrick's direction is beautiful and cold, letting the viewer have emotions instead of telling them what to feel. Stanley Kubrick doesn't come back to these proffesionall and well- spoken characters until Barry Lyndon (1975). Unfortunately, this film ends up getting repeating and dull. The photography provides a sort of gloss to it that few films have, and also the editing is rapid- fire. 9.5/10
Review of Lolita
