Customer Reviews

Lupin the 3rd - The Mystery of Mamo

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

'Mamo' may be known to some American fans already as the secondary footage in the Laser Disk arcade game 'Cliff Hanger' from 1983. While this film doesn't match the personalities or situations in Miyazaki's Lupin masterpieces, it does stand on its own as a decent anime effort from the late seventies. The first half of 'Mamo' is an incredible globe hopping action adventure going through the Giza pyramids, Transylvanian castles, Paris streets and sewers, Spanish desert and cities and onto an American aircraft carrier. All the sequences are well thought out with a variety of ingenious villains until the middle of the film where Lupin and gang end up on Mamo's headquarter island in the Carribean sea. Suddenly, the plot stagnates and wanders almost aimlessly for the next fourty minutes before the bizarre wrap up. The uninteresting latter half is probably due to the director trying to follow the Lupin manga without proper editing. The DVD version is a little lack luster, but it is still a good film and the english dub is very good. Get it; it's decent.

Well, the DVD is pathetically equipped, with a menu that totals to a scene select. There is no Japanese language version with or without subtitles (probably because the company who dubbed it, Streamline Pictures, never made a subtitled version to begin with). The movie itself, however, is very interesting, even if it lacks the animation and spit-and-polish of "Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro." Supposedly, a little blue-fleshed fellow named Mamo has been hanging around Earth for the past several thousand years by self-cloning. Mamo, a psychopath, also claims that he has controlled all of human history and even cloned Lupin III himself (who may very well be dead, hung in Transylvania). Character tensions are detailed, and everyone watching can see how the director felt the players in the film should interact with each other (and it's in a very different way than in the "Lupin III" works of Hayao Miyazaki). All-in-all, it's a pretty good movie, but it takes quite a while to get past the toothpick-like character design and the far-less-than-teriffic animation. Once you get through the slug, it's a fun little ride with some good jokes thrown in, too. But, it's still no "Cagliostro Castle".... Final plug: Visit my Lupin III Webpage!

I love this movie, but it is a simply atrocious to release a Japanese movie on DVD without including the original Japanese language dialogue as an optional audio track.

Billed as the first Lupin III movie, "The Secret of Mamo" is a lot of fun to watch. The animation is not the greatest, but the storyline is interesting and contains some very funny scenes. The action is fast and furious and filled with gunplay and narrow escapes. If you've seen and enjoyed other Lupin features like "Castle of Cagliostro" then you will like this one.

I am a big fan of Lupin the 3rd and I saw all Lupin anime episodes from the pilot film to the last one. Secret of Mamo is one of the best Lupin episodes ever made, as good as Miyazaki's "The Castle of Cagliostro"
It contains a lot of mystery. Mamo is really a mysterious character and is said to be Lupin's biggest enemy!
This is anime, but it has a very deep theme, "Is to be immortal really make people happpy?"
People call this move "great humbug", It contais a lot of scenes which many people consider silly but we enjoy it because it is silly. There're not so many movies that we are fond of because they are silly.
Actually, this movie has been translated into English FOUR TIMES! One for Japan Air Line, one for USA(translated by other company under the title of "Mystery of Mamo") and one for UK(under the title of "Secret of Mamo"). This is the fourth translation. This fact proves how good this movie is.
This DVD OF COURSE has both English and Japanese dialogue. All Lupin and anime fan will enjoy it. But it may be hard to understand for small children.

The earliest Lupin movie many fans remember is the excellent Hayao Miyazaki adventure, "The Castle of Cagliostro."
In that classic film, viewers were introduced to an honorable and altruistic Lupin that deviated greatly from the
one they saw in the manga. It was this film that set the tone for essentially all Lupin films to follow; in
every subsequent entry, while Lupin still kept his ways of thievery and womanizing, he went about his affairs in
a bit more pure-hearted kind of way (two of the best examples of this are "Dead or Alive" and "The Secret of
Twilight Gemini".) But when Lupin was first put onto the big screen back in 1979, the director's aim was to give
audiences a taste of the lecherous, murderous thief they had grown accustomed to in Monkey Punch's original manga.
Enter "The Secret of Mamo".

Fans of "Cagliostro" beware: this is Lupin like you've most likely never seen him portrayed in more recent specials
and movies. This version of the world's greatest thief is an irresponsible buffoon, who chases after women even
if it leads him into a trap that could spell his death, and who hits people in his car without a second a second thought.
It's scary to think this man also houses what could be one of the world's greatest minds. No matter the situation, Lupin
is able to escape from any ordeal imaginable, by using his unique brand of logic coupled with a questionable brand of
strategy. Watching Monkey Punch's most famous creation at his zany, perverted, brilliant best is worth more than the
entry price.

But that's not all you're going to get from this film. Also housed is an excellent plot, one of the best I've ever seen
in a movie in this series. It all starts when a fake Lupin is executed, therefore convincing the whole world that he's
dead. However, rugged investigator Inspector Zenigata, Lupin's longtime rival, knows our hero(?) better than that.
After further investigation, he discovers that Lupin is indeed alive. The chase begins again, but this time, Lupin
is on the run from a foe much more terrifying than a clumsy detective; after becoming ensnared by his eternal foil,
the lascivious Fujiko Mine, he earns the ire of terrifying genius Mamo, who fancies himself to be a god, and has
plenty of power to back up that claim. Instead of hunting a treasure, Lupin chases Fujiko, and gets involved with
happenings that are infinitely beyond him. Will Lupin survive? Is Mamo really a god? Will our hero finally score
with Fujiko? These questions are answered in the most thrilling ways possible.

Every single second of this film is exciting, a trait which is hard to attain even in today's world of hi-tech
Hollywood blockbusters. There is not a single second in which you wish the movie would end, or that you feel
as if it could be moving a little faster. "Mamo" hits it's stride one minute in, and doesn't let up until
the last credit rolls. Gravity-defying chases, beautiful women, and some of the most devious escapes imaginable,
all traits of the venerable series, are presented with the utmost perfection here.

Unlike some later movies in the Lupin series, which are still great but not masterpieces, this film is one of
the few entries that is completely flawless. With mindbending moments that defy belief (watch for the scene where
Lupin wanders into Salvador Dali's "Melting Time" painting), to gut-busting moments of sheer hilarity (pretty much
any scene with Lupin and Fujiko together), this is one of the best Lupin movies I've ever seen, and one of the
greatest anime films I've seen in general. For the three dollars this costs now (excluding shipping, of course),
you would have to be crazy not to watch this excellent film.

Oh, what a huge difference a director makes. Where Lupin the III: The Castle of Cagliostro (Special Edition) had atmosphere, inventive visuals, coherence and plot Mystery of Mamo has blandness, cheap backgrounds, confusion and silliness. It IS good for a single viewing and features a couple of pretty good action scenes but, I'm afraid, beyond that it's just as forgettable as any other random Japanese cartoon.

Lupin III has been cloned and killed and the ever highly-strung Inspector Zenigata rejoices but it turns out that some being from another dimension in the form of a dwarf freak and a huge disembodied brain is behind the whole charade and involves the real, living Lupin III in some cockamamie plot. Don't even think about trying to follow this tripe.

There's no charm or appeal to Mystery of Mamo and while there's plenty of visual humor and the characters we love, they deserve a better film. Go watch Lupin the III: The Castle of Cagliostro (Special Edition) instead.

The DVD features a murky 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer and a dull Dolby 5.1 sound design. Extras are minimal.

First of all, for anyone that has seen any of the Lupin T.V. episodes will enjoy most of the movies. Personally I am a big fan of the show so I bought this dvd without having seen it before. Overall I am very glad I made this purchase. It feels like a 2 hour long episode and that is okay in my opinion. For those new to Lupin, it is basically about 4 expert thieves who travel the world and steal the most high profile items. Lupin III is the main character, and there is no better thief in the world. His crew includes samurai Goemon, gunman Jigen, and the beautiful Fujiko who is sometimes his ally and sometimes is not. Fujiko uses Lupin's infatuation for her to her advantage in getting what she wants from him, much to the dislike of his other partners. The Secret of Mamo begins with Lupin presumed dead. But as Inspector Zinegata, who is always after Lupin to arrest him, finds out Lupin is alive and well. But someone has set it up to look that way. Meanwhile Fujiko is lured to the promise of eternal youth and beauty by a scientist known as Mamo. Lupin, Goemon and Jigen pursue Fujiko, ending up on Mamo's island. While there they discover that Mamo has a plan bigger than they could have realised, a plan to take over the world that has been going on for 10,000 years. Can Lupin stop Mamo before it is too late? If you have seen the tv show then you already know the answer to that. But this is the first Lupin movie I saw and it is one of my favorites. This is old school anime, chock full of cheesiness and lower quality animation, but nevertheless Lupin is one of the best anime series ever. The series has influenced so many other things in the world of anime/animation in general, and if you see this movie you will know why. This is an action-packed movie that I really enjoyed, and I recommend it to fans of Lupin III or any anime fan in general.

'Lupin The Third: The Secret of Mamo' is a retro animation from Japan. It has pretty dated animation and cheesy (but kinda funky) 70's music and is definitely old school. Don't expect another 'Spirited Away' or 'Steamboy' here. When in the first half hour you see a motorbike inside an egyptian pyramid, a helicopter in a sewer and a juggernaut that is able to run over cars like bugs, you soon realise that this film isn't one to be taken too seriously. The re-dub in this film is a crime to the original feel of the film and genre, to use modern terms and analogies seriously detracts from the overall feel of the film. There are some pretty psychedelic scenes, and not in a good way like in Akira, but plain weird like when running through various famous painting scenes of Dali and Escher etc, and meeting Hitler! Very strange. As a fan of Japanese animation I was left disappointed, but if you're a fan of retro animation then this may be up your street. Worth a viewing if you like other Lupin films, but you could easily miss it and search for better anime films before coming back to this one.

Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.

This is the 1995 Streamline/Orion dub of the first LUPIN THE THIRD animated film from the late 1970's, which has many titles but here is called MYSTERY OF MAMO. Pioneer would redub it roughly ten years later when they had the LUPIN license as "SECRET OF MAMO" and while that is probably an easier disc to get your hands on, this is the superior dub. The translation is closer and the jokes are less topical. This disc was released by IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT during the brief period of time when Streamline shut down their anime business in the mid to late 90's (basically after Laserdiscs were long dead) and before Pioneer/Geneon got the rights to LUPIN. That means it is a DVD from about 1997-1998, and as such it is bare bones. The menu is a bit weird and there are really no extras, not even a subtitle track. But for those who just want the best dub of this flick, this is the release for you.

The plot centers around Lupin the Third stealing several items to try to win the love of constant rival Fujiko, much to the chagrin of his allies Jigen and Goemon. This ultimately leads to a confrontation with the mysterious Mamo, a villain who puts most Bond villains to shame. Love him or hate him, Mamo is a very memorable foil for Lupin, which is key as many of his villains in his films blur after a while.

The voice cast put in excellent performances and if you can nab this for under $40, do so!