Review of Streamline's "Cagliostro" (REPOST)
Elizabeth Horn
A review of the English-dubbed version by Streamline Pictures
"I don't mind stealing bread
From the mouth of decadence..."
--from "Hunger Strike" by Temple Of The Dog
"And hope to God that he don't find a runaway
Who's lookin' to become a star
He'll have your ass in and out of every car..."
--from "Who's The Mack?" by Ice Cube
WARNING: This "review" is on the ego tip. I often find myself saying
that I could or I did do something better than Streamline. But to be
honest, I don't think there's anyone out there who *doesn't* feel that
they could do it better than Streamline.
Streamline's version of Cagliostro opens with the old FBI (why not
INTERPOL?) warning against copying, exhibiting, or distributing the
film without Beck n' Macek's permission. Isn't that a little
presumptuous? Let's see the film first, and then decide whether it's
worth all that trouble on our part. N.B.: I showed AKIRA at Oldenborg
Hall at Pomona College in 1991 and drew a bigger crowd than the
"authorized" showing a few months apart at Montclair Plaza. 110 people
came for our first showing
and 60 for an unscheduled encore. This compares to the 20 who showed
up at Montclair. Of course, our showing was free, but...I advertised
vigorously for both, putting up Streamline's orange handbills (the
flyers for my showing were way more hype, on 11 x 17" paper,
incorporating the positive newspaper reviews for AKIRA. They were in
your face. Ebert and Anacleto taught me that if you expect people to
watch something as unlikely as anime, you have to be graphically
bold. Streamline's little flyers can be ignored--and they were). all
over campus, spreading the word around. This was on my own initiative,
because I felt that AKIRA was an important film and that a great deal
of its impact remained in its English version. I still feel this way.
I also still feel that Streamline does a terrible job of advertising
their theatrical showings. Remember how I put the word out about the
Houston showings last summer? If you don't scan the flyers that may or
may not be in the back of the comics shop, or cruise by the marquee
every day, the chances are you'll never know. (Case in point--I missed
The Professional a week ago). Natch, their business is oriented
towards video, not the big screen (the true mark of a classic
film--"now available on video"). Strange as it may seem to our
generation, though, motion pictures were meant to be seen in the
theater, no matter how many lines of resolution you have at
home. Theatrical showings garner critical attention--which
Streamline's AKIRA benefitted from--much more readily than video. And
a theatrical outlook helps to avoid the OVA trap which has helped to
kill anime in Japan by slicing the market into smaller and smaller
pieces.
Most of you would agree that Cagliostro is one of the all-time anime
film classics, right? Back in the old days, that is, before
Iran-Contra, many of us thought that if you were to name the one anime
which could bumrush the theaters in the U.S., it was Cagliostro, with
its straight-up action, style, and charm. Not fantasy-SF like
Nausicaa, not space opera like My Youth In Arcadia, not assault and
battery like Golgo 13--Cagliostro had just the right touch for ready
acceptance (if any anime did). OK, so what does Cagliostro deserve?
A.) a good theatrical tour in the U.S., receiving praise from
newspapers, maybe a blurb on MTV. Entertainment Tonight, or even
Siskel & Ebert? Or, B.) release-to-video, selling at the comics shop,
maybe at your local Blockbuster, maybe not. Yeh, I know that
Cagliostro has shown in certain U.S. Theaters. The version they showed
at the River Oaks in Houston was a sucker-ass subtitled version with
errors that had been worked out years ago by the fans, but not by
Mr. Fred Patten, translation consultant. I mean, something on the
level of what AKIRA received. But, y'know, as any fool can plainly see
(I can plainly see that) AKIRA, Streamline's first release, was also
their high point theatrically. It has gone downhill since there.
from there.
OK, I saw AKIRA for the first time on New Year's Day, 1989. I had been
OK, I saw AKIRA for the first time on New Year's Day, 1989. I had been
following the comic, and observed the many changes in the story from
the manga. Less than a year later, Streamline distributed the English
version. You see the difference between one year and eight in getting
used to a perception of an original--besides, Lupin was my favorite
anime, and I'd done a bit of U.S. promotion for it myself. AKIRA, I
was just picking up at the store and going to see in the theaters. No
interaction. It makes a difference. Objectively, the dubbing in AKIRA
is not so hot. But the images and ideas in the film--the incredible
energy, the social and political turmoil that make AKIRA so
exceptional--come through loud and clear. Because of the dubbed
version, many Americans who were not anime fans got to see it and be
very impressed. And that's why I gave Streamline props for their
distribution of the film.
Cagliostro, though...Back to the videotape. After the FBI warning,
there's Streamline's logo, which I personally feel is one of the
better aspects of their operation. TMS's new logo. Camera, action,
lights of the Casino on the Cote d' Azur snap on, in one of the best
film openings in the world. With the first lines spoken by the Casino
guards, one realizes one of Streamline's recurring flaws: a lack of
flair, of verve, to their dubbing.
This is in part due to "physical limitations." Mr. Macek has claimed
on various occasions that it costs him in the area of $75,000 to dub a
film. I have it on good authority that it actually costs him as little
as $4,000 (Streamline sells its tapes at a wholesale rate of 50%--they
get about $15.00 a tape therefore. If the $75K is just for
post-production, and doesn't even include the cost for rights, or
possibly even videotape reproduction--they would have to sell 5,000
tapes of each film just to break even. They have probably done that
with AKIRA, but I somehow doubt that they've sold 5,000 copies of
"Planet Busters" or "Once Upon A Time." I don't think they would have
been able to stay in business for three years with those kind of
pledge goals). Therefore, the voice actors, if they can be called
that, aren't paid very competitively--and they don't deliver their
lines the way anime voice actors, do, standing together in a studio
with their scripts--they do it one actor at a time, in an isolation
booth, where it's hard to interact with the other "people" in your
scene.
It's been pointed out that most voice actors are "trained" for jobs
such as voice-overs on industrial safety videos. Furthermore, most
foreign films which are dubbed--the overwhelming majority--are done so
with no other consideration in mind than to allow it to be picked up
by distributors in a foreign country. In other words, to meet the
basic qualification of being in the likely viewer's native tongue, and
not to meet any particular standard of fidelity to the film's original
story, to try to use voices similar to those in the original, or of
course, to have good acting. Anime fans are among the few people in
the world who care about artistic standards in dubbing. Most filmgoers
accept the idea of dubbing as always being unintentionally humorous,
e.g.: "Ha! Yo "Hkung fu is worthless, old man!" and are pleasantly
surprised--and react positively to--the rare foreign film which is
well-dubbed, such as "The Boat."
Back to Streamline's professionalism. Cleverly, and quite
appropriately for an English adaptation, they have used digital video
editing to overlay "Sorry, Boys!" in English over the original
Japanese on Lupin's little note under the hood. Unaccountably, this
overlay does not appear until we see the original Japanese for several
seconds. What's up with that?
"If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all." Yet
anime fans rarely (never?) get a dubbing job that is even
*satisfactory*, not memorable or striking, but merely *competent*,
taking nothing away, at least, from the impact of the
original. Because this fairness, if you will, is practically
nonexistent, we always find our reviews of dubs starting from under
the waterline, and if we having anything good to say, we are trying to
salvage the film: save something from the wreckage of a once proud
ship, drowned in a sea of bad English. There is a lot of small shit to
sweat in Streamline's Cagliostro, but let's cut to the bowels of the
beast: Streamline's stable of voice actors. Some are veterans who
served way back in "Booby Trap," (a bit of truth in packaging
SStreamline could use today) in 1984, the same days when I first gaped
at a certain Lupin III film at a C/FO Dublin meeting--and have come
all that way to smash many proud sails--Megazone Two Three, Windaria,
Cagliostro, and yet the sea, unfortunately, is not full.
One can sort of see where they were coming from in casting the voice
of Lupin, and if I had never seen the english-dubbed "The Mystery Of
Mamo," (It's a little ironic that the first Lupin film I ever saw was
dubbed in English) I could believe they had made a good
choice. Streamline's Lupin is too young, sounding like a teenager,
rather than the 31 Lupin was meant to be in Cagliostro, one foot over
the line of youth and experiencing a bit of a "mid-life crisis." Many
people have commented on how different the behavior of the Lupin
towards Clarisse is from his, er, style in the manga, or for that
matter, in "Mamo."
The voice of Jigen, again, is inferior to his in "Mamo." He was
properly played there: cynical, sardonic, yet Lupin's bodyguard above
all things and therefore often trying to save him from being wiped out
by his own illusions. If he calls Lupin by any title, it's likely to
be "idiot" rather than "boss." Where did this "boss" come from?
Perhaps it's an attempt to fill in the lip-synch where "Lupin" would
have went. But it lends the wrong cast to the character.
Clarisse's voice represents the most severe miscasting in the
film. She is the heroine of the film, and made a big impression on the
Japanese public: for years, she topped the Animage Gran Prix polls for
favorite female character. She was meant to be 17 in the film, largely
raised in a convent school (features Streamline invalidated both by
picking a significantly older voice and by changing the convent to a
university), and quite innocent to her family's dark and bloody
heritage--yet possessing the Cagliostro traits of fortitude and
cunning; to the manor born, if you will. She has to be victim and
vindicator, naive, and knowing too much. The voice has to be a Juliet,
and we're given 90210 instead: a pushing-thirty "teenager."
I hate to see Rolf Emerson, the only one with any sense in the
Southern Cross High Command, being reincarnated as the Comte d'
Cagliostro. You'd think he'd have better karma than that after his
selfless, tired-of-life dive at Bowie. The Count of the original film
was an aristocrat, cultured, heir of a centuries-old line, heir of a
conspiracy that had altered the fate of nations, who slept above the
bones of his enemies. He enjoyed being what he was, exemplifying
Orwell's definition of power as making other people
suffer. Streamline's Count is, for the most part, irritated middle
management.
Fujiko, or "Fuji," or just plain "Fooj," to which she has been
shortened by the end of the film, is, surprise, miscast. Eiko Masuyama
conveyed discretion, intelligence, and femininity: a character who can
go from deep cover as Clarisse's maid, the only female servant in the
Castle (mention of this was also cut), an outsider amidst a terminally
suspicious clan, then (literally!) cast aside the disguise to reveal a
professional terrorist and spy. There is no sophistication, no
subtlety, to Streamline's Fujiko.
This last, of course, is the basic problem that applies to all the
voice acting in Streamline's Cagliostro. These voices are supposed to
*memorable,* to ring with distinction, conviction, and
personality. Before Orson Welles died, Owen Hannifen suggested that he
would make a good voice for the Count in an English adaptation--James
Coburn for Jigen, Tom Hanks as Lupin, Toshiro Mifune as Zenigata. You
may disagree with some or all of these, but you can see that it's the
correct line of thinking. "Poison for poison" as Goemon said in a line
that did not appear in Streamline's Cagliostro--actors for
actors. Streamline's voices may fill in the lip-synching, but they
don't fill the acting needs of the films they dub.
The lack of dramatization is the real problem. With that said, we need
only lists the superficial problems with Streamline's voice
actors. Zenigata. His name is Kouichi Zenigata. "Keibu" means
detective, so he's basically giving his rank twice. An improvement
over Ed Cott, but really. He doesn't sound Japanese, and he doesn't
sound like the man whose meaning in life is to catch
Lupin. Goemon. Since he's not given many lines in the first place, his
ones should count. Angie was good as Angie. The guy just doesn't come
across very well as a kensai. Jodor Balsamo is the Count's manservant,
but he is also his co-conspirator and a professional assassin. When he
fails, he may bow and mumble, but not snivel. The groundskeeper: rake
the gravel in the dustpan, son, not in your throat. I say, pay
attention to me, boy.
Now that we've gotten that out of our system, let's wipe.
Here's a selection of the aforementioned small shit:
1.) The opening credits. Streamline's blackout of the Japanese titles,
severely cropping the picture, is clumsy and unnecessary. The same
editor they used for the hood note could have placed precise bars, in
a complementary color to the background, over the original titles, in
which an English translation of the credits could be inserted. The
accompanying slow-down of the animation makes the titles look like
they're part of a cheap, shot-on-video production.
2.) The Count's dismissive wave to Fujiko as he steps towards
Clarisse's bedchamber. This is a good example of Streamline's not
understanding the nature of the characters, for they added a verbal
command where there was none originally. The Count expects to expend
only a slight motion of the wrist for people to do his bidding. It's
called aristocracy, formality, propriety--oh, forget it.
3.) When Jodor reports to the Count, he implies that he did not take
part in the attempted hit on Lupin and Jigen. Obviously he did, for
he's dressed in his Shadow outfit, not his usual major-domo
threads. And if he wasn't there, how did the note get on his back?
This was a rather pointless error on Streamline's part. Also, Jodor is
a professional assassin and spy and does not say things like "Oh,
dear."
4.) Extra dialogue at beginning of Count's breakfast scene--see note
2.) The Count does his best to ignore his "social inferiors"--regard
the expression on his face as his lifting of the silver spoon is
interrupted by Zenigata. You know what I mean. Streamline doesn't.
5.) Why get rid of the line "Watch out for the hole" when Lupin and
Jigen begin to penetrate the aqueduct? Ruins the joke.
6.) Clarisse doesn't remember Lupin when they meet in the tower? It
seems a little hard to believe she'd have forgotten their dramatic
meeting the other day.
7.) "Well, at least we know (the trapdoor) works?" Obviously it
works--the corpses piled in the dungeon for 400 years testify to
that. You can see that there are many chutes in when Lupin lowers his
way down. It's designed that victims should hit the water, breaking
their fall, leaving them to die slowly of starvation. The medieval
Italians used gadgets like that. Cagliostro is meant to have that
atmosphere. Didn't you know that, Mr. Macek?
8.) They missed a good bit with Lupin's passing of the roach to
Zenigata. I would have given an appropriate change of tone to Lupin's
voice after he inhaled.
9.) Streamline unnecessarily overinflates Cagliostro's power: "(they)
controlled global economics for centuries, ruling the world's
economy." Actually, they were counterfeiting mercenaries, sometimes
turning history with their operations, but whose forgeries were always
commissioned by other countries. That was one reason why they were
able to survive--playing this country against that, providing
plausible deniability. If all this destabilizing of economies was
really on their own initiative, Cagliostro would have been conquered
and eliminated a long time ago. Their defenses are oriented against
are designed against commandoes and spies, not artillery and air
power. Instead, their fairy-tale country provided the perfect
cover. One doesn't associate windmills and shingled roofs with
international counterintelligence. The "secret of Cagliostro" is hard
enough to believe already; why does Streamline make it more so?
10.) Fujiko would not say "Got any ideas, Princess?"
11.) What's with the reverb on scenes such as Clarisse and Lupin's
"cliffhanger," the confrontation of the Count with Lupin & Co. on the
North Tower, etc.? We got along fine without that in the original.
12.) The voices are actually good in the INTERPOL committee meeting!
But
the altered dialogue misses the point: that the Count won't be
prosecuted not because he controls their governments, but because he
is so useful as a tool.
13.) "I can't let the Princess marry that jerk!" I'd say he's a little
more than a jerk. This is "Lupin III," not "Archie."
14.) Streamline shows their inability to deal with subtlety in the
simple screw-up of this line: "Since when did you become so
religious?" Did it ever occur to anyone at the office that they might
be dealing with a work of film art? Or do they think it's a 100-minute
(geez! 100 whole minutes...) Japanese cartoon that just needs English
dialogue slapped across its length like so much whitewash? The
wedding-procession sequence is one of the great moments in anime. The
sacrament is meant to heighten the realization of Cagliostro's
defilement (Lupin himself makes this point as his "ghost" emerges from
under the altar)--it's chiaroscuro. Jodor's making the sign of the
Cross is an unexpected, understated, yet shocking gesture. There's a
layer even below this: the black robes and hoods worn by the Shadowmen
in their honor guard are reminiscent of the Inquisition, a real-life
Cagliostro atrocity committed with the utmost piety and approval of
Christ's vicar on earth. The Church is here subsumed into the evil of
Cagliostro: delivering its blessing in the dead of night, imprisoned
in a stone fortress, surrounded by the swords of the Count's men,
acquiescing to what is clearly against Clarisse's will. Streamline
doesn't entirely succeed in demolishing this aspect of the film, but,
as in so many other scenes, they demonstrate they don't really
understand the nature of the film at all.
15.) As the Count's phony money showers on the wedding guests, Lupin
proclaims: "Zenigata was telling the truth--your politicians lied to
you." The audience would have no idea what he was talking about, since
Zenigata's report was delivered only to a closed-door session of
INTERPOL commanders. Threw away Zenigata's great line "Stand fast!
Justice is on our side!" Goemon's "I don't kill for nothing,"...oh,
it's all so fucked up!
They say that the British, unlike the Americans feel that, in most
cases, "God got it right the first time." "The Castle Of Cagliostro"
was from the anime no kamisama himself. Let us see Streamline take a
sabbatical from the dubbing business and make their own original
film. When it turns out as good as Cagliostro was, they'll have
demonstrated their wisdom in "improving" every line of dialogue, in
restoring apocrypha narrative to every quiet moment in the film. Can't
have a quiet moment--you know those toons, they're full of energy!
The Castle Of Cagliostro was the first of the classic anime films, and
it was the last one to fall. Streamline's Cagliostro may resemble the
original's plot, the characters may sound OK, the animation may appear
to be the same, but this is a counterfeit. Please don't be taken in by
it.
--Carl Gustav Horn
Cyberpumpkin
>Fujiko, or "Fuji," or just plain "Fooj," to which she has been
>shortened by the end of the film, is, surprise, miscast. Eiko Masuyama
>conveyed discretion, intelligence, and femininity: a character who can
>go from deep cover as Clarisse's maid, the only female servant in the
>Castle (mention of this was also cut), an outsider amidst a terminally
>suspicious clan, then (literally!) cast aside the disguise to reveal a
>professional terrorist and spy. There is no sophistication, no
>subtlety, to Streamline's Fujiko.
This, of course, is Macek's biggest mistake and he deserves to die a slow
painful death for it..as if he wasnt going to burn in hell for
sacriledge anyway...;)
But on a lighter note...what is "the Mystery of Mamo" and WHERE OH WHERE
can i get a copy??
-your everyday begging,
fujiko
But on a lighter note...what is "the Mystery of Mamo" and WHERE OH WHERE
can i get a copy??
-your everyday begging,
fujiko
C-ko Kotobuki
>THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO:
>A review of the English-dubbed version by Streamline Pictures
Heh, consider yourselves lucky...you haven't seen a REAL mangled Cagliostro
until you've seen the "Cliffhanger" video game. YUCK! We were laughing
so hard...
C-ko
Elizabeth Horn
"The Mystery Of Mamo" is one of several names for the first Lupin
movie (1978); its most common Japanese name is actually "Lupin Vs. The
Clones." Its English dub is called, simply, "Lupin III." It's said
that this was dubbed for Japan Air Lines back in the day (this would
get around theound the legal problem over using the Lupin name that
existed at the time). Although its plot makes slightly less sense than
AKIRA's, and the video quality is rather low (having passed through
many hands), the crowd at Rice University raved for it two years in a
row. And no wonder. These voice actors (several of whom have also
worked in dubbing martial arts films) actually give a third dimension
to the characters. They're not afraid to go all-out. The characters
names (except, ironically, for Lupin) have all been changed, but
they're all the same characters they were in Japanese. Lupin is an
uncanny match--even his laugh is right. You couldn't ask for a better
Goemon or Zenigata; Jigen is quite good, too. Fujiko sounds strange,
but it's because she's playing a different kind of role than in
Cagliostro: femme fatale rather than commando. So, in short, the film
is a real artifact of American anime and a reminder of the
possibilities in dubbing.
I, uh, don't have the capacity to copy tapes myself right now. Fujiko,
where you at?
--Carl "Black Sheets Of Rain" Horn
"My generation is a real fucked-up generation 'cause we gonna get ours
no matter what."
--Mac Mall