Saturday, August 27, 2011

Chasin' the thief

My recommended title for this week is also a live action film. In fact I'll focus on live action for the next few months in order to build up that new page.

This week I have one for fans of the Lupin III stories, actually a very early Lupin III adaptation. At the time it had been made only the first TV series had been broadcast with Goemon as a very minor character and none of the animated features existed. Speaking of the first series Discotek, has announced they will release the first season of the Lupin III TV series in 2012 in the US. Up to now all we had was a few episodes on VHS and re-dubbed only.

In any case this week I recommend:
Lupin The Third: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy
Director: Tsuboshima Takashi
Screenplay: Nagano Hiroshi
Based on a work by: Monkey Punch
 
The only live action adaptation of the original famous Lupin III crime stories that ran from 1967 - 1972. This film is very different from what fans of the Lupin III anime may expect as Goemon does not play a role in the movie. One major reason for this is that the film was released in 1974 when the Lupin stories were still relatively new, the characters in the animated adaptations of the manga had not settled into the form we are familiar with today. For example the first Lupin TV series (1971-1972) had Goemon as an occasional character and none of the animated features had been released. In any case there is much to enjoy in this tale which is actually about how Lupin, Jigen, Fujiko and Zenigata first met. The film shows its age, however this is a major advantage: with all the excessive super thief/James Bond silliness this movie is excellent entertainment for fans of the original manga series. Order Lupin The Third: Strange Psychokinetic Strategy from The Right Stuf

2 comments:

jwatson8 said...

Suggested corrections:

Change "familiar with today for example the" to "familiar with today. For example the".

Change "Zeigata" to "Zenigata". ^_^;

Change "however this is a major advantage with all" to "however this is a major advantage—with all" OR "however this is a major advantage: with all".

Change "Strategy from The Right Stuf" to "Strategy from The Right Stuf."

Gilles Poitras said...

Thank you again Dr Watson.

I had changed the Zenigata typo (as well as the Jigen one) on the web site but neglected to get it here.