The Castle of Cagliostro
James Bond meets Scooby Doo. Is this a Heidi prequel? Are all Miyazaki films on the same universe? That scene inside the clock is like Modern Times on steroids.
Lupin is the greatest thief on Earth, very expansive and always in a high mood. His sidekick Jigen of course it’s the complete opposite, cynical and morose, eyes hidden by his hat, ALWAYS. Together, they rob the Monte Carlo casino and escape with bills completely filling their Fiat 500, but turns out those are funky dollar bills.
Lupin knows more about the “gothic bills” that it seems, they go directly to the source, a small Ruritanian country of Cagliostro. When they have a flat tire, a young princess drives past them on a Citroën 2CV, chased by some burly men on a sedan. An incredible car chase scene ensues, including hardcore gunfighting, slapstick, and insane driving all around, ending with all three cars semi-wrecked and our hero held on a cable holding the princess in his arms. The tree holding them falls, and the princess escapes to the woods, quickly picked up by reinforcement goons.
She nursed our hero with her satin glove, and left an ancient ring, the mark of the Cagliostro heritage. This leads our boys to a ruined castle overlooking the current stronghold of the country’s leader: the evil count. Said count is marrying the young princess in a couple days, joining both bloodlines and cementing his own power. She hates this, but what can she do, she is but a prisoner on a very tall tower.
Turns out she can’t do much, but others can. Her private tutor is a spy, sent to search for the source of the funky bills. Lupin and her have a backstory together, but they are not allies. Her allies are actually Interpol, and they send their best: inspector Zenigata (think Dreyfus from The Pink Panther, the straight man permanently furious). The count neutralises him politically, which only makes him even more furious.
To infiltrate the stronghold, they need their other gang member: the serious hermit samurai, dressed in full gear (like the guy from Seven Samurai that cuts people with a single blow). After infiltrating the stronghold successful and during the rescue, our hero gets shot and is saved by their temporary Interpol allies, Fujiko the spy tutor and Zanigata. Rescuing the princess before the marriage seems impossible now.
After there days, our hero is recovering well, after eating enormous amount of delicious food. This gives them not much time to rescue the princess before the marriage. It’s a daring plot, involving a disguise as Vatican archbishop (not the pope?), Zanigata and Fujiko pretending to be TV people to enter the stronghold, leading to scandal at the “discovery” of the counterfeit bills live on TV, and the aforementioned clock chase sequence.
There was an ancient treasure, protected by the two rings that both families inherit. The count is past that, he just wants the treasure. Since the marriage was an excuse to get the other ring, he throws both Lupin and the princess to soft water for a chance of activating the treasure entrance.
The real reason why Lupin knew so much was because had failed to steal shit from the stronghold years before, was nearly killed, and a very young princess helped him! The treasure is soon revealed: an hidden Roman city, underneath a massive artificial lake feeding the city. The rings demolish this dam, the city is finished but the roman city shines for the first time in many centuries.
With another case solved (but no loot), Lupin and his party drives away into the sunset, with the inspector giving chase.
This technically only half of the Ghibli lead people, and a franchise film even.
Princess Clarisse, living on rolling green hills with her grandfather and a sheepdog? Clearly a Heidi reference. How did she get disabled?
This is my place for ramblings about sequences of images that exploit the human visual limitation know as persistence of vision.