THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO

Based on Monkey Punch and A-Pro’s beloved manga was Hayao Miyazaki’s directorial film debut.

Cagliostro features gentleman thief Lupin III, grandson to Maurice Leblanc’s French literary master thief Arsène Lupin. After successfully robbing a casino of, unfortunately, counterfeit bills, Lupin III attempts to rescue a princess from a villainous count while uncovering the counterfeiting scheme.

Stephen Spielburg once said it was one of the greatest adventure films of all time, and we agree.

Before Studio Ghibli, acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki got his start working as an artist on a variety of projects across the anime industry in the 60s and 70s. In 1971, he became a key staff member on the anime adaptation of Monkey Punch’s popular Lupin III manga, directing several episodes of the show during its run. It was this success that would eventually lead to his feature-length directorial debut, and the film that would eventually lead to the creation of Ghibli, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.

For those unfamiliar with Lupin III, the manga debuted in 1967 and starred a gentleman thief. He was the grandson of Arsene Lupin, the thief character created in the early 20th century by French author Maurice Leblanc. It’s been hugely successful, triggering no less than seven anime series and multiple movies.

Lupin III is your typical thief protagonist, defined by his cockiness and willingness to do whatever is necessary to achieve his goals. He’s also aggressively charming, and one of his few weaknesses is women. Originally a borderline villainous character, he would become more complex when Miyazaki and fellow future Ghibli director Isao Takahata took the reins of the TV adaptation. While this characterisation clashed with the original vision of the show, it caught enough attention to grant Miyazaki a feature length movie to do what he wanted with the character. And it’s here that the complexity would only grow.

The Castle of Cagliostro is an adventure movie, effectively Indiana Jones before Raiders of the Lost Ark ever existed. Lupin and his regular right-hand man, Daisuke Jigen, have escaped from a Monte Carlo casino with a vast amount of money, only to discover it’s fake. This leads them to follow the trail of where these counterfeits came from, while also saving a princess from being married off to a villainous Count.

The movie is full of action set pieces, right from the very start. We’re introduced to Lupin and Jigen as they leap, Olympic runner style, over a series of fences carrying big sacks of money. We get car chases, as Lupin’s Fiat 500 outmanoeuvres a bunch of goons chasing the princess Clarisse. Lupin leaps from roof to roof in the castle. There are gunfights, sword fights, stunts and other dramatic moments.

All this looks great, of course, because it’s Hayao Miyazaki handling it. The car chase is a particular highlight, where the Fiat becomes a character in its own right, wiggling around, driving on walls and defying the laws of physics to keep up with Lupin’s frenetic way of handling things.

Lupin’s usual crew also show up here. Goemon shows up to take on castle guards, swiping off their clothes in the process. Fujiko infiltrates the castle and helps keep the princess safe, even as Lupin manages to flirt with both of them throughout the movie. And finally, Inspector Zenigata arrives and provides a helpful distraction as Lupin attempts to defeat the Count.

But as with all Miyazaki movies, these action-packed moments are contrasted with moments of calm. The wind rolling over quiet hills. A slow walk through the ruins of the old Duke’s palace. These are the moments we expect of Miyazaki, where we stop to take stock of everything we’ve seen up to this point. Even in his debut, Miyazaki’s iconic style is fully on display here. It says a lot about why he’s considered one of the greatest animators, when even his debut is full of confidence and gorgeous visuals.

The Castle of Cagliostro would become one of the more popular pieces of Lupin III media, and the vision of the character seen here – morally dubious but ultimately a decent guy – would largely become the blueprint for the character in all other depictions that followed. It was the first movie in the franchise to be dubbed into English, and there are theories that Steven Spielberg may have become a fan even before its English-language release. Those Indiana Jones similarities may not be a coincidence, it seems.

While it is still far from being a Ghibli film, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is an essential movie for any fan of Miyazaki’s work. While it is his debut, no part of this movie feels like the work of an amateur, and his style is still present in every frame. It also helps that it’s an incredible heist movie on top of that, and I’d recommend it for that alone.