September 23rd: THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO (Hayao Miyazaki, 1979)

A charismatic thief storms the stronghold of a nefarious count in search of treasure and to rescue a young princess.

Arsene Lupin III is a character from a long-running manga series by Japanese artist "Monkey Punch", inspired by French writer Maurice Leblanc's series of stories from the early 1900s featuring gentleman thief Arsene Lupin. Lupin III operates in the modern era as some combination of James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, and Harry Houdini.

Hayao Miyazaki was an aspiring manga artist who joined the successful Toei Animation company in his early 20s working on television episodes, and within five years had positions including writer, concept artist, scene designer, and chief animator on features. He directed episodes of the Lupin III series alongside future Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata.

After several company and show changes, Miyazaki was ready to direct his debut feature, the second of a series of films of the Lupin property. It differed from its predecessors by portraying a more heroic, friendlier version of the character (to the dismay of some longtime fans).

In addition to directing, Miyazaki also wrote, designed, and did the storyboards for the film. Some of the locations were based on research and ideas from an aborted adaptation of the Heidi books, reflected in the depiction of the Alps mountain area. Despite being hand-drawn, the film only took four months to complete.

The film was a moderate success both in Japan and abroad, and its standing has risen among anime fans from subsequent re-releases and home video. It was the first anime to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

Cagliostro was a rumored influence on Pixar founder John Lasseter and Steven Spielberg in the early 1980s, and some of its scenes were used for one of the pioneering laserdisc arcade games, Cliff Hanger. Miyazaki would continue to work on manga and other television series before his breakthrough second feature Nausicaä in 1984 and the creation of Studio Ghibli.

Running time is 100 minutes.