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Mystery of Mamo
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is a 1978 Japanese animated film directed by Soji Yoshikawa and written by Atsushi Yamatoya and Soji Yoshikawa. It was the first animated movie based on the Lupin III character created by Monkey Punch.
film opens with white lines traveling down and a trapdoor opening underneath a prisoner. The prisoner is hanged, and a coroner's report (with narration by Koichi Zenigata in some dubs) confirms the executed prisoner to be the real Lupin III.
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is a 1978 Japanese animated film directed by Soji Yoshikawa and written by Atsushi Yamatoya and Soji Yoshikawa. It was the first animated movie based on the Lupin III character created by Monkey Punch.
Plot
The film opens with white lines traveling down and a trapdoor opening underneath a prisoner. The prisoner is hanged, and a coroner's report (with narration by Koichi Zenigata in some dubs) confirms the executed prisoner to be the real Lupin III. But Zenigata doesn't believe this, so he goes to the tomb to see for himself. Opening the coffin, he drives a stake into the body, which promptly explodes. The real Lupin III shows up to witness Zenigata's humiliation and narrowly escapes by hang glider (which is in the shape of bat wings). Zenigata fires at him three times, hitting the camera the third time to trigger the opening credits.
The opening scene shows Zenigata following Lupin all the way to Egypt, where the latter is looking for the Philosopher's Stone at the request of a contract with the help of his partner-in-crime Daisuke Jigen. They find the stone, but the setup fails, triggering an alarm. What follows is a brief encounter with Zenigata, who is shocked to see Egyptian officers pointing guns. Zenigata refuses to let them fire, insisting that they have already trapped Lupin and "unless they're issued with silver bullets, the men will waste their ammunition". This is a play-on-words as Lupin derived from Lupus, or the genus of wolf. Regardless, Lupin evades Zenigata's trap. On the way out of the pyramid, Jigen almost loses his hat, and Lupin criticizes him for not losing it. Goemon Ishikawa XIII, meanwhile, has killed the officers surrounding the pyramid. Cutting a tire on Lupin's bicycle, he tells them to hurry. The three make it out on a rope, and Zenigata is literally left in the dust, cursing them as they leave.
Meanwhile, Fujiko Mine is waiting for Lupin to deliver the stone, but doesn't have to wait long, since Lupin was already there to surprise her. When she learns that Lupin nabbed the stone, she grabs for it, but Lupin chides her for being too passionate and reminds her of her promise to date him in exchange for the stone. Fujiko back-stabs Lupin by spraying him with paralysis gas. Lupin returns to HQ to listen in on Fujiko to find out who asked for the stone, only to discover that the stone was a fake. (Of course, the viewer knows it already from the Egyptian police chief's dialogue in an earlier scene.)
The contract is not pleased that Lupin had given him a fake, so he sends two of his men after him, the first piloting a chopper. The chopper chases Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon into a sewer, where Goemon is waiting to chop the chopepr's blade with his Zantetsuken, remarking "Once again, I slashed an unworthy object." The chopper blows up as Goemon retreats, and Lupin and Jigen are not too happy that the explosion damaged the car. Fujiko pulls up and asks for the stone, but Lupin tosses her out of her own car, paying her back for the backstabbing she gave him earlier (and reminding her to take his car, which "still needs some repairs").
Zenigata quickly arrives, hot on their tail and tries to get Lupin to turn himself in with the reason that "it would promote friendly relationships between France and Japan". Lupin refuses, and during a high-speed mountainside chase, the second of the goons arrives in a 18-wheeler and crushes two of the police cars, sending the one with an awe-struck Zenigata into the water below. The chase continues as Lupin tries to dodge the truck. The confrontation appears to be over after the henchman plummets to his death after driving off the mountain. That's when Flinch arrives in a plane, blows up the car, and runs on Lupin's hair. He then proceeds to blow up Lupin's HQ.
Jigen and Goemon chastise Lupin because of Fujiko and nearly get into a fight until Lupin decides to throw Fujiko out of his life. In a spur of the moment, they travel toward the ocean. On the way, Lupin sees a pitcher of water on a table and accidentally sets off a booby trap that Flinch left. After some more walking, the threesome find a house stocked with food and water. That's when Fujiko, beaten up and helpless, comes for Lupin, who rushes to her and alienates his two sidekicks in the process. However, Jigen can't leave him with Fujiko for too long and tries unsuccessfully to rescue him when Fujiko puts him to sleep with some strong medicine she used to drug his food. A clue to Lupin's whereabouts is then dropped, reading "WATER".
Soon, Jigen attracts the attention of Agent Gordon, who tails him throughout Europe the following day. Surprised at first by Jigen's quick move to threaten him, Gordon manages to bring him and Goemon to Area 64 to be interviewed by Starky, an important government official from America. After listening to a tape of an interfered-with conversation between the secretary general and President Jimmy Carter, Starky asks for info on the man who broke into the conversation. Jigen hands Gordon the note and angers him by saying that if they knew what the note meant, they wouldn't be where they were. Starky decides that Jigen and Goemon knew nothing, releasing them for the sole purpose of using them to find the mystery man. They know immediately because of spilled water, and the invisible ink is revealed to be "CARIBBEAN".
Meanwhile, on a Caribbean island, Lupin manages to find the mystery man, who reveals himself to be a dwarf named Howard Lockwood who refers himself as Mamo. He offers Lupin eternal life, but Lupin refuses, saying that all he wants is the Philosopher's Stone. He then manages to find it as Jigen and Goemon, tailed unknowingly by Zenigata and tracked unknowingly by the U.S. Government, head for the Caribbean island. Fujiko plays with Lupin awhile, but they are soon chased by thugs led by Flinch.
Release
The Japanese release was handled by Toho, who was also responsible for the initial English dub, also known as the JAL dub or the HK dub. The second dub, handled by Streamline Pictures, was released on home video by Orion Home Video in late April of 1995, as well as on DVD by Image Entertainment in 1998. The third dub, which was never released stateside, was released on home video in the UK by Manga Entertainment, Ltd., who handled that same dub, in 1996. The fourth dub was handled and released on DVD by Pioneer Entertainment (USA), Inc. in 2003; in Australia and New Zealand, it was released by Madman Entertainment in 2006.
Manga Entertainment release this film as Lupin The Third - The Secret Of Mamo on DVD for the first time in the UK on August 4th 2008, with both Japanese and English language audio soundtracks.
Full cast
The JAL dub cast has been omitted as their identities remain unknown.
Trivia
Some aspects of Mamo's character, notably his appearance, were reported to be based on actor Paul Williams who had starred as a similarly charismatic villain in the 1974 film Phantom of the Paradise.
Some Japanese promotional material subtitled the film "Lupin vs. the Clone(s)" (Rupan tai Kuroon) although this is not technically part of the film's title.
The name "Lupin vs. the Clone(s)" is sometimes used to differentiate it from the other Lupin films, but it reveals a plot point revealed much later in the film, causing some Lupin fans to be uncomfortable with using it freely. This was at least part of the reason why an American fan created its English nickname, "The Mystery of Mamo," back in the 1980s. Streamline Pictures adopted the name due to its lack of spoilers and TMS eventually agreed to rename the film for the English market.
The renaming to "Secret of Mamo" was likely to help differentiate the Manga Video (UK, 1996) and Pioneer Entertainment (USA, 2003) releases that followed Streamline Pictures' release of "The Mystery of Mamo" (1995 VHS, 1998 DVD).
An 2004 column by Fred Patten in Newtype USA mentioned that Mamo was actually meant to be spelled "Mameaux" in foreign releases; however, American Lupin fans had already begun referring to the spelling as Mamo by the time Streamline acquired the rights to the film; Streamline then changed the spelling to accommodate them.
According to the insert included with the Pioneer DVD release, the original Japanese voice actor for Mamo performed the role so that audiences would be somewhat surprised when he finally appeared in person. For the first half of the movie, Mamo was heard but unseen and his deep masculine voice is ironically incongruous with his gnomish appearance which was revealed later. This effect was duplicated in the English language Pioneer release.
Jigen fires his gun only three times in this film, while Lupin never fires his or goes into disguise.
The helicopter chase scene and the hanging scene are used in the arcade laser disc game "Cliff Hanger". The rest of the game uses footage from another Lupin film "The Castle of Cagliostro".
External links
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