Revealing mistake: The professor has a blowout, but all four tires on the car are fine. (02:04:30)
Visible crew/equipment: The microphone's shadow appears on the wall, when the professor is begging Lolita to come back to him and leave her husband. (02:21:28)
Continuity mistake: Watch Charlotte's cigarette as she and the professor discuss camp for Lolita. It disappears in some shots. (00:43:10)
Other mistake: In the opening credits, there is one credit that reads "Miss Winter's costumes by Gene Coffin." This is meant to be referring to actress Shelley Winters and the man who provided her costumes, however the apostrophe has been put in the wrong place. Since her full surname is Winters, putting the apostrophe in between the R and S in incorrect. The apostrophe should have gone after the S to spell out "Miss Winters' costumes" and not Winter's. (00:01:35)
Visible crew/equipment: When Humbert and Lolita are talking in her house after meeting for the first time in three years, whilst Lolita is telling him her husband doesn't know anything about what happened between them, a crew member can be seen reflected in the television that she is leaning on. This crew member can be seen reflected on the television throughout the shot, until Humbert begins to walk over to the window. (02:21:04)
Visible crew/equipment: In the opening scene, when Humbert arrives at Quilty's mansion, there is a transition the starts at the end of the shot where Humbert is driving up the main path, where it fades to the living room inside the mansion. Whilst the scene is transitioning, a crew member can be seen in the living room, walking out of shot just before the transition finishes. (00:02:26)
Visible crew/equipment: The Shadow of a man appears on back of Humbert's coat for two seconds as he pleads with a married and pregnant Lolita to come back with him. (02:21:11)
Deliberate mistake: When Humbert is walking through Quilty's mansion at the start of the movie, a bottle is placed near the top of a chair covered in a sheet, which is later revealed to be covering Quilty; the bottle is also shown to be placed on top of Quilty's head. This same scene is shown a second time at the end of the movie, but the bottle near the top of the chair cannot be seen. There is a second bottle on Quilty's lap that can be seen in both the two scenes, but the bottle on Quilty's head cannot be seen the second time around. The two scenes were likely filmed two seperate times. (00:02:50 - 02:32:18)
Visible crew/equipment: When Humbert is asking Lolita who is the man he is looking for, just after she asks him if he remembers Doctor Zemph, Humbert asks if it was him, to which Lolita replies "Not exactly" before walking into the kitchen. Whilst Humbert is saying "I didn't come here to play guessing games" as Lolita walks to the kitchen, the shadow of a crew member, most likely a cameraman, can be seen cast on the side of the television. It cannot be Humbert's shadow as his shadow is cast on the couch and on the window behind him. (02:22:20)
Visible crew/equipment: When Humbert and Lolita are sitting in the car and watching the car behind them after pulling over, Humbert starts getting pains in his arm and chest. As Lolita is saying "Maybe you ought to see a doctor in the next town", Humbert is leaning his head down against the steering wheel, and then says "No, it'll be all right", before lifting his head up again. The shadow of a boom mic can be seen passing over Humbert's head whilst he begins to lift his head up. (02:06:17)
Visible crew/equipment: Right at the start of the scene where Charlotte is making a fried egg for breakfast in the kitchen, the shadow of a camera can be seen cast on the side of the toaster to the right of shot, and is then quickly pulled away. (00:37:01)
Visible crew/equipment: When Humbert is driving down a street whilst he is being followed, he begins to pull over at a gas station. Whilst he is pulling into the gas station, after driving off the main street, a car can be seen driving past on the opposite side of the road. The reflection of the camera crew can be seen reflected in the window of the car as it passes by. (02:02:12)
Continuity mistake: When Lolita is trying to wake up Humbert by saying "The hotel's on fire", Humbert awakens by rolling over onto his back and placing his left hand over his chest. The shot then cuts to an angle closer to him, where his left hand is now placed over his mouth. (01:28:48)
Visible crew/equipment: When Humbert hears the employee knocking on the hotel room door, he starts running over to the man to shush him whilst the camera is pulling back. When the camera pulls back enough to show the employee in the shot, the moment he enters the frame, the shadow of the camera can be seen cast on his coat for a brief moment. (01:23:52)
Visible crew/equipment: When Humbert and Lolita enter their hotel room, just as the employee begins walking into the living room area, the camera begins to pull backwards and the shadow of the cameraman can be seen reflected in the glass pane to the right of shot that the employee walks past. (01:16:36)
Continuity mistake: When Humbert hands Lolita the sandwich that's loaded with mayonnaise, he is shown holding onto the plate with his left hand and touching the bread with his right. Lolita then takes the plate and Humbert's left hand is suddenly empty and is holding the plate with his right hand. (00:34:10)
Deliberate mistake: When Humbert shouts Quilty's name when he is in his mansion, a bottle can be seen rolling off a chair covered in a sheet in the background. It is then revealed that Quilty was sitting on the chair, with the sheet covered over him, and the bottle was placed on top of his head, over the sheet. It is also shown that him waking up was what caused the bottle to roll off the chair. The bottle's position on the chair before Quilty awoke could not have been possible. Even if Quilty was able to place the sheet over him before passing out, he could not have been able to place the bottle over his head and he could not have been able to balance the bottle over his head whilst he was asleep unless he remained completely still all throughout his sleep. This was likely done deliberately as a way of letting Humbert and the audience know where Quilty was, but still make little sense in the context of the movie. (00:03:25)
Factual error: Humbert finds Lolita in a phone booth at an Esso station. There were no Esso stations in Ohio, where they were living. That brand was used only in the Northeast. (01:59:20)
