Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Lolita’s debut on Blu-ray is a fine example of a vintage black-and-white movie getting a new lease on life. In the 1.66:1 picture, sharpness and detail seem a little uneven from shot to shot, but the disc is remarkably true to the film as Kubrick crafted it. Prime example: the occasional soft-focus portraits of individual characters, especially the alluring Lolita (Sue Lyon), which hark back to the days when such shots served as a crucial part of Hollywood’s star-making machinery. Whether these are meant to be ironic or not is still open to interpretation.

The DTS-HD Master Audio mono track pushes the original sound as far as it can go, with clear dialogue and a reasonable sense of space.

The only extra is the original trailer. It does, however, serve up a priceless bit of salacious period marketing.

(Editor’s Note: Lolita is available separately as an Amazon.com exclusive, but the disc is also included in the Blu-ray boxed set Stanley Kubrick: Limited Edition Collection, a wide release.)