Lolita (1962 film)

Lolita is a 1962 black comedy-psychological drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1955 novel of the same name by Vladimir Nabokov. The black-and-white film follows a middle-aged literature lecturer who writes as "Humbert" and has hebephilia. He is sexually infatuated with young, adolescent Dolores Haze (whom he calls "Lolita"). It stars James Mason as Humbert, Shelley Winters as Mrs. Haze, Peter Sellers as Quilty, and Sue Lyon (in her film debut) as Dolores "Lolita" Haze.

The novel was considered "unfilmable" when Kubrick acquired the rights around the time of its U.S. publication. Owing to restrictions imposed by the Hays Code (1934–68), Kubrick and producer James B. Harris were compelled to tone down the paedophilic elements that were central to the novel’s narrative. Sue Lyon was 14-years-old at the time of filming began and played a 13-year-old girl at the time of Humbert Humbert's seduction. In Nabokov's novel she is 12 1/2.