Labels Aside, Garbage Is Still Garbage

Regarding British director Adrian Lyne’s upcoming attempt to remake the film “Lolita” (“Not Your Average Nymphet,” Calendar, July 14) and his comments that “I could make a movie about a 13-year-old girl getting chopped up and eaten and no one in the United States would say anything.” Well, I am here to say to Lyne: Wrong!

No matter how you package garbage, no matter what label you put on it, garbage is still garbage. Whether it is labeled satanic cannibalism or erotic, gratuitous sex, it’s garbage. Is this just another liberal attempt to reduce the moral quality of our country, or are we really in such a state of moral decay that no one would say anything about a movie depicting a 13-year-old being chopped up and eaten? Lord, I hope not.

ED REED

Downey

I would like to comment on Lyne’s reference to the James Mason portrayal of Humbert Humbert in the 1962 version of “Lolita.”

All due respect to this accomplished director, but I think he had better take another look at the 1962 film. Mason gives an incredibly funny performance in this movie. Mason not comedic? How about taking a look at his performance in “Georgy Girl”? Or the much later film “Heaven Can Wait”?

Why is it necessary to denigrate the work of one great actor--a much-missed talent--to justify the talent of another, in this case Jeremy Irons? Why must we tarnish the memory of Mason, perhaps keeping a generation of film buffs from looking at the body of his work?

This just makes me angry.

ANDREA COHEN

Casting Director

Los Angeles