Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
Review by Chris Meadows Review Rating: 10 out of 10
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki Written by Hayao Miyazaki & Harauya Yamazaki
Based on Characters & Situations Created by Maurice Leblanc & Monkey Punch
Starring Yasuo Yamada, Eiko Masuyama, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Makio Inoue, et al.
THE BACKSTORY
To understand _Castle of Cagliostro_ most completely, let's take a brief detour into the Lupin character's illustrious past. If you'd rather skip it and get on with the movie, use your text-find feature to go to the words "THE FILM".
In the first decade of the 20th century, a previously-unsuccessful French journalist/novelist named Maurice Leblanc created a gentleman-burglar named Arsène Lupin. It was a fortunate accident of serendipity that the character of Arséne Lupin, inspired in part by the adventures of Sherlock Holmes (and sometimes featuring a Great Detective named variously Herlock Sholmes or Holmelock Shears as one of Lupin's adversaries), became so popular with the French public and, by translation, the rest of the world that Leblanc could not let him rest, and so most of Leblanc's subsequent short stories and novels featured the character until Leblanc's death in 1941. In addition to the books, a play was written based on the character (which Leblanc then turned into another novel), and a movie was made starring John and Lionel Barrymore.
The idea of writing mystery stories centering around a burglar protagonist was not new, of course--Conan Doyle's own brother-in-law E. W. Hornung had done so several years before, with two volumes of short stories and one novel about a gentleman-burglar named Raffles. However, Leblanc's Lupin was infused with a Gallic romanticism, bon viveur, and sense of fun that the stoic British Raffles lacked.
Arsène Lupin was a gallant, dashing figure, suave and charming and gifted with great physical prowess. He is credited with introducing jiu-jitsu to Paris, he was a master of disguise, and he always left a calling card before his visits explaining just what he planned to take. Sometimes he told his tales to a Dr. Watson-style confidant-chronicler, sometimes he was a protagonist in third person, sometimes he never appeared at all until the next-to-last chapter of the story, having been in disguise as someone else all along. Although he was a criminal, he never let the thought of it depress him (the way Raffles's companion did), and his sense of morals owed much to Robin Hood--he could not bear to see an injustice done, nor could he resist a damsel (in distress or otherwise). Leslie Charteris's "The Saint" could be considered a spiritual descendant of Arsène Lupin.
Sadly, though many of the earlier Lupin novels have entered the public
domain, few have been e-texted for greater availability. One, _The
Glass Stopper_, can be found via Project Gutenberg
(
In the late 1960s, the Lupin novels were popular in Japan, and Japanese artist Katou Kazuhiko (aka "Monkey Punch") began a "Lupin III" manga series in a Japanese magazine, chronicling the adventures of Arsène Lupin's grandson. It became popular enough itself to spawn three manga series, three TV series and many movies and Original Animation Videos (made-for-video-release movies). It is widely agreed among fans that the best of these was _Castle of Cagliostro_, the second cinematic Lupin movie.
Interestingly, at the time of Lupin III's creation, Japan didn't enforce trade copyrights, and so the Leblanc estate was never notified or asked for permission to create this derivative work. When they _did_ find out, there was legal trouble, and eventually an agreement was reached that the Lupin name would not be used when the anime and manga were exported to other nations. Hence, when Streamline dubbed Lupin anime, they renamed him "Wolf"; when AnimEigo did, they called him "Rupan"--a phonetic Anglicization of the Japanese pronounciation of "Lupin". However, since that time, the earlier Lupin works have passed into the public domain, and the current legal status of this agreement is somewhat murky. Manga's Cagliostro DVD uses the spelling "Lupin," though it is pronounced "loo-PAHN" in the dub.
Many of the first Lupin III stories and films were completely over the top, similar to Mad Magazine, and Lupin III bore very little resemblance to his gentlemanly ancestor. In earlier stories, Lupin had little compunction about killing people. When acclaimed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, who also co-directed part of the first Lupin TV series, took the helm of _Castle of Cagliostro_, he took the opportunity to redefine the characters to be more in line with his vision of heroism.
THE FILM
The film _Castle of Cagliostro_ has its own history, almost as fascinating as that of the Lupin III character or the plot of the film itself. The story concept is very loosely based on a 1924 Arsène Lupin novel, _Countess Cagliostro_, in which a woman named Clarisse turns out to be the granddaughter of a famous real-life 18th-century scoundrel and forger named Cagliostro (who died in a cell in a castle in Italy, which thus bears his name).
Cagliostro opened theatrically in 1979 to only modest success, but met with greater popularity over the years as it was reshown. Rumor has it that Steven Spielberg was awestruck when he saw it at Cannes in 1980.
In 1983, footage from Cagliostro and the earlier Lupin film _Mystery of Mamo_ was licensed to Stern Electronics for use in a Dragon's Lair-like arcade game, _Cliff Hanger_ (which was seen briefly in a video arcade as an animators' in-joke in an episode of _Macross_/_Robotech_).
Subsequently, Cagliostro was optioned by "anime antichrist" Carl Macek's Streamline Films company, and given a theatrical sub followed by a lackluster dub for video and Japan Airlines flights (starring Cam "Jimmy Flinders" Clarke (Max Sterling & Lancer from _Robotech_, Leonardo from the _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ cartoon, Jackie Chan in countless cheap live-action dubs) as the voice of "Wolf").
The Streamline dub caught flak from fans both for retiming, zooming, and digital matting the beautiful opening-credits animation sequence and parts of the film to eliminate all traces of Japanese writing, and for Macek's inane changes of dubbed comments or insertion of dialogue where there previously was none. The most famous example changes Goemon the Samurai's "Once again I have cut a worthless object" to "Should've worn an asbestos suit" after he deftly slices Lupin's burning clothes off with one stroke of his katana.
More recently, as Streamline decided to get out of the anime business, _Castle of Cagliostro_ was purchased by Manga Video, who commissioned a new subtitle translation by translator-extraordinaire Neil Nadelman, as well as an all-new dub. These have been or will be released on VHS and DVD. (See "THE DVD," below.)
THE STORY
_Castle of Cagliostro_ opens with Lupin and his companion/confidante Jigen Daisuke robbing the swanky Casino Monaco only to find that all the money they stole is counterfeit. Recognizing the style of the forgery, Lupin decides that it's time to return to the scene of an ignoble defeat from his youth, the small European duchy of Cagliostro, where he will finally uncover the secret of the forgeries once and for all.
No sooner does Lupin arrive than he falls right into the middle of a modern-day fairy tale, complete with a damsel in distress. Clarice, daughter of the late Grand Duke and Duchess who died in a fire seven years before, is to be wed to the evil Count Cagliostro, who sees the ring she wears as a secret to unlocking a vast treasure (while continuing the family tradition of counterfeiting on the side). Lupin, who has unfinished business with both the Count and Clarice, cannot allow this to happen.
And so Lupin's other companions, the samurai Goemon and the spy Fujiko, soon arrive to lend a hand--as does Lupin's arch-nemesis, the determined Inspector Zenigata, and his squad of Interpol police. The Count has a few surprises in store...but so does Lupin. The film moves from climax to climax, growing in tension and excitement toward a final action-packed conclusion.
_Castle of Cagliostro_ is a genuine feel-good movie, and proof that a feel-good movie doesn't have to follow the saccharine Disney formula to be feel-good. Though it might surprise those who have only seen his atypically-violent _Princess Mononoke_, Miyazaki graces the characters in this story with a touch of gentleness, of sentimentality, even in the midst of the over-the-top action sequences. Yet it never seems forced or artificial, as when a Disney film beats you about the head and shoulders with the pugil-stick of new-agey politically-correct morality. In the end of the film, when the Interpol police wave cheerfully out the back of the APC truck as they drive away, it doesn't seem silly or artificial...it just seems right, as though it couldn't have happened any other way.
Some of Cagliostro's action scenes have been criticized by some for being a little over the top--and indeed during the car chase scene it seems that Herbie the Love Bug is the stunt double for Lupin's Volkswagen coupé, as the sturdy little car drives right up and down the side of a near-vertical cliff, held aloft by nothing but speed, centrifugal force, and artistic license. Also, for the incredibly anal nitpickers, an autogyro is seen to hover--which is actually impossible, as autogyros don't have a powered main rotor. However, these are really no more outrageous than some of the stunts Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chow Yun-Fat, or James Bond assay in their films, and, more importantly, are very _fun_ to watch.
THE DVD
Manga Video's _Castle of Cagliostro_ DVD is an excellent presentation of the film, and an average-to-fairexample of DVD features. The film transfer was wonderfully clear and vibrant, and quite surpassed VHS fansub and dub copies in terms of quality, and the sound was also excellent in both the English and Japanese tracks. They clarity allowed details not seen in prior versions to appear, be they smudges on characters' clothing or the hilariously incongruous fake fangs Jigen was wearing in one scene. It is truly hard to believe that this movie is twenty years old. The sole thing keeping it from perfection was the lack of an anamorphic transfer.
The subtitles were large, clear, and easy to read, and seemed close enough to yet different enough from the fansubbed version to be a complete retranslation. Strangely, a sign in the early part of the film was digitally-matted out and covered with "Nice try, guys!" rather than subtitled...but the matting vanished halfway through the shot. The opening credits were preserved as they had been, Japanese symbols and all, and the opening song was even translated--a nice touch, given that this isn't always the case.
The dub quality was up to Manga's recent standard--quite faithful to the original, a mostly well-written script, but only fair to mediocre actors. Perhaps it is simply that they suffer by comparison to Streamline's more familiar voices, but the actors for Inspector Zenigata, Jodo, and Gustav seemed particularly bad. Manga's Zenigata in particular was unable to match the range of the Japanese actor or Greg Snegoff, Streamline's actor for Zenigata (who also played Khyron and Scott Bernard in _Robotech_), at portraying emotional subtexts...which meant that in the last scene, where he should have come off as gruff but warm, he simply came off as gruff and flat. Jigen, Goemon, Count Cagliostro, and the old gardner were so-so, and Lupin, Fujiko, and Clarice were pretty good.
Though there was some unnecessary dialogue (and a few minor minor obscenities) added, most lines were faithful to the original, and Goemon's "asbestos suit" line was the much more satisfactory "This is not worthy of my blade." It was somewhat annoying that they chose to pronounce "Lupin" more in line with the Japanese, "loo-PAHN," but given the Lupin trademark travails, not altogether surprising. On the whole, a dub I wouldn't be ashamed to show to subtitle haters.
That the DVD itself is only fair to good is due largely to its menu features and content (or lack thereof). The menu itself is nothing special, offering the usual "play the movie, scene index, language setup" options, as well as options for two trailers (one being little more than a slideshow of box images of Manga's entire catalog set to an annoyingly repetitive percussion beat, the other being an a series of clips from Manga shows set to a KMFDM tune), a list of current Manga DVD titles, and a WWW link (which is, amusingly, little more than a picture saying to click on the Internet Shortcut located in the data area of the DVD-ROM). (It also seems to be easily breakable, given that I have several times managed to get my Hollywood Plus/DVDStation setup to load the menu without the selection cursor appearing.)
Most annoying, however, is the "metal shards sliding together and apart with metallic clank" transition that appears whenever a menu option is selected--and has nothing at all to do with _Castle of Cagliostro_ or anything else on the DVD, unlike some of the equally extravagant transitions on James Bond Special Edition and other DVDs that at least fit the theme of the movie. But then, this is not terribly surprising given that Manga Video has a long tradition of trying to play up the "kewl" aspects of its anime, as demonstrated by its former slogan ("Bizarre. Twisted. Uniquely imaginative"), which it thankfully seems to have dropped.
It would have been nice if they had added, say, a small documentary or featurette on the popularity of Miyazaki, or of Lupin, or the character's history, or the film's use in Cliff Hanger, and if they had nixed the annoying transition. However, as it is, the DVD is more than a sufficient presentation of _Castle of Cagliostro_ to satisfy Lupin, anime, and Miyazaki fans alike.
BIBLILOGRAPHY/LINKS LIST:
Maurice Leblanc biography:
http://kirjasto.sci.fi/leblanc.htm
Lupin III FAQ:
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/cruzl/lupin/faq/
Nausicaa.net Lupin III FAQ: http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/lupin/faq.html
Internet Movie Database _Castle of Cagliostro_ listing: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0079833
"The Knockout Lounge" (Monkey Punch's homepage): http://www.monkeypunch.com
Cliff Hanger arcade game page: http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/cliff.asp
(This review is copyright 2000 by Christopher E. Meadows. Permission
granted for Usenet distribution and associated archival, including the
Internet Movie Database, but other distribution rights reserved to the
author.)
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