LOLITA-SWEETA

By

Michael Edwin Q.

Lolita (1962) staring: James Mason, Shelley Winters, and Sue Lyons.

Directed by the great Stanley Kubrick

Screenplay by the man himself – Vladimir Nabokov

I love this movie, but there are many mistakes in it.

Dissolve to house interior, notice overlap. See film crew, carrying clapboard, wearing cardigan sweater.

There’s a painting on the floor to his right. (Sudden Demise of Love by Karl DerHeimer); the same picture is later seen at the top of the stairs.   

Humbert passes armchair where Quilty sits under sheet. Remember there’s a bottle on his head. Remember Humbert plucks harp, a bottle on the piano bench.

Remember next to piano – a box where rest three bottles, one is upright.

Quilty wearing boxing gloves, notice behind him all three bottles on the box are now upright. Humbert shoots gun and shatters two of the bottles.

Quilty is at piano, the bottle is now on the piano.

Quilty struggles up stairs, hides behind painting - same painting from downstairs!

Humbert and Charlotte have a romantic supper - Television in the corner, notice screen. Dozens of light reflections - see the film crew.

Lolita cups hands over his ears - whispers what she did at summer camp, Humbert recoils, shocked by her brazen confession. With headphones, you hear Lolita shamelessly declare, "Well, it's not tidily winks and it isn't blind man's bluff.”

At Humbert and Lolita’s new house, whenever anyone enters or leaves, their shadow sweeps over entire neighborhood - clearly a backdrop.

At gas station, the license plate number is 17459.

At blowout, license plate is AC629. A low camera shot reveals all four tires intact.

Hospital scene - attendants wrestle Humbert to floor. The black attendant's right pant leg is filthy. They pin Humbert down; the attendant rests his knee on floor - not the first take.

Humbert and Lolita's last quarrel. Again, notice lights and film crew reflected in television screen. Arguing, see shadow of overhead microphone go from him to her and back.

The last scene is a replay of the opening scene. May look like the same, but the bottle is missing from atop Quilty's head.

Does all this decrease the quality of the movie? No, it adds to the pleasure of watching it. Lolita is a cinematic masterpiece, worth another hundred viewings, which I am certain to do, finding even more errors. If you find any others, let me know.

END

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