Newly arrived in Ramsdale, New Hampshire, the European emigre Humbert Humbert is smitten, so much so that he comes up with a master plan. He'll marry Charlotte haze. That way he'll always be close to his dear one - Charlotte's precious daughter!

Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick explores the theme of sexual obsession (a subject he would revisit 37 years later in Eyes Wide Shut) with this darkly comic and deeply moving version of Vladimir Nabokob's novel.

Drawing performances from his stars that rank among their career bests, Kubrick crafts a film that was notorious in its day and is no less provocative today.

James Mason plays devious, deluded Humbert: wedded to needy Charlotte (Shelley Winters); rivalled by the ubiquitous Clare Quilty (chameleon like Peter Sellers); and enraptured to his gelatinous core by the blithe teen (Sue Lyon) with that "lovely, lyrical, lifting name" - Lolita.

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