Legend of the Gold of Babylon

Lupin III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon
Japanese DVD Cover
Directed by	Seijun Suzuki Shigetsugu Yoshida
Produced by	Tetsuo Katayama Kazushichi Sano Hidehiko Takei
Written by	Yoshio Urasawa Atsushi Yamatoya Monkey Punch (creator)
Starring	Yasuo Yamada Kiyoshi Kobayashi Eiko Masuyama Makio Inoue Gorō Naya
Music by	Yuji Ohno
Cinematography	Hajime Hasegawa
Edited by	Masatoshi Tsurubuchi
Production company	Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Distributed by	Toho
Release dates	July 13, 1985 (1985-07-13)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Lupin III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon (Japanese: ルパン三世 バビロンの黄金伝説, Hepburn: Rupan sansei: Babiron no Ōgon Densetsu) is a 1985 Japanese animated film co-directed by Seijun Suzuki and Shigetsugu Yoshida. It is the third feature film based on Monkey Punch's popular Lupin III manga.

It was released on subtitled VHS and LaserDisc in North America by AnimEigo in 1994 under the "Rupan III" name, due to copyright concerns with Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin.

Synopsis

Lupin searches for a gigantic hoard of hidden treasure originating in ancient Babylon, with the help of his usual team, a set of stone tablets, and a drunken old woman by the name of Rosetta. Complicating matters is Inspector Zenigata, who has been roped into judging the "Miss ICPO Beauty Contest" and must now drag a group of nominees around with him, all eager to prove themselves as agents.

Production

This film is the only Lupin film where he wears the pink jacket from the third TV series. AnimEigo released the film with English subtitles and Japanese dialogue under the title "Rupan III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon" on VHS in the North America in 1995.^[1] In 2005, Discotek Media acquired it for a DVD release,^[2] however, it was later cancelled due to NA's declining anime industry.^[3]

Reception

Mike Toole of Anime News Network stated that when he first watched the film in the 1990s, he hated it, having only known Lupin as the "smooth, gallant antihero" from The Castle of Cagliostro and The Plot of the Fuma Clan. Whereas Legend of the Gold of Babylon's version of Lupin is closer to Monkey Punch's original "rough, drunken, lecherous crook." However, a decade later, he stated that the film "goes down much smoother" having been acquainted with Suzuki's other work, the director being known for his bizarre and oddly-structured films.^[1]

References

External links

• Legend of the Gold of Babylon (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Legend of the Gold of Babylon at the Internet Movie Database
• Legend of the Gold of Babylon at AllMovie
• Lupin III: Legend of the Gold of Babylon (Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database