ANIMATION FILMOGRAPHY: "The Thief and the Cobbler"

[WRITER'S NOTE: I haven't seen the theatrical versions of this unfinished film, so I'm only critiquing the fan-made cut available online.] 

Legendary animator Richard Williams is best known for his groundbreaking work on the 1988 live-action/animated mystery comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit. But for almost three decades, he had been at work on what he considered his attempt to make the greatest animated film. 

Loosely based on Idries Shah's "Mullah Nasruddin" tales, and set in a fictional Middle-Eastern city, The Thief and the Cobbler held one of the longest production periods of any feature film, live-action or animated. The Canadian animator had spent that duration developing and producing the project independently, from his own studio in London. Its history is a complicated one. 

Production began in the 1960s. Key characters included the mute shoemaker named Tack (whose tools form a mouth on his face), the silent Thief who steals three golden palace balls, the beautiful princess YumYum, the sleep-deprived Sultan, and the dastardly wizard ZigZag (voiced by Vincent Price, who recites all of his dialogue in rhymes). Shot in a letterbox format a la Sleeping Beauty, Williams' ambitious undertaking had lavish art direction and groundbreaking perspective angles--all hand-made and without the use of computer technology. The BBC even did a behind-the-scenes television special in 1980, called "Richard Williams: The Thief Who Never Gave Up" (one of the film's original titles). I also recommend Robert Morgan's 16mm half-hour documentary from 1967, "The Creative Person: Richard Williams" (watch Part 1 here and Part 2 here).  

Getting back to Thief, the production budget came from profits made from short films and commercials that Williams' studio was turning out, including the 1971 Oscar-winning short based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and the 1977 musical take on Raggedy Ann & Andy. Then, after Roger Rabbit was a massive success in the late-1980s, Williams made a deal with Warner Brothers to finish his passion project, under the primary condition that he finish by 1991. But because he couldn't meet the deadline (several sequences were reportedly redone, not least because of the director's perfectionism and difficult working style), Williams was let go. The remaining animation was finished by the Completion Bond Company and produced by Fred Calvert. 

This resulted in two different but heavily-cut and -edited versions released to theaters, both doing very poorly at the box-office: one by Allied Filmmakers in 1993 (as The Princess and the Cobbler), and the other by Miramax Films in 1995 (as Arabian Night). The latter version added new dialogue and voices (Matthew Broderik as Tack, Jennifer Beals as YumYum, and Jonathan Winters as the Thief), as well as musical numbers to capitalize on Disney's Renaissance era. (In retrospect, the Mouse House's own Arabian Nights feature, Aladdin, may have borrowed designs and other elements from Williams' film. It's not hard to see the similarities.) 

Nowadays, The Thief and the Cobbler is best regarded as an unfinished masterpiece. Its animation is unparalleled if, at times, uncanny and psychedelic. With that in mind, the film works more as an arthouse piece than as a mainstream effort, not to mention a strong example of style and obsession overshadowing substance and story. There is also some suggestive imagery. 

That's not to say the film lends itself to some truly impressive set pieces and top-notch craftsmanship, including brilliant showcases and distinct personalities for its main characters. Highlights include ZigZag's card tricks, Tack's pursuit of the Thief through a series of checkerboard hallways, and the Rube Goldberg-esque destruction of an industrialist city. The film proves what hand-drawn animation is capable of, as an art form and means of storytelling. This applies not just to characters and foreground elements, but the whole environment as well. Make no mistake, animated on 1's (all 24 frames per 1 second of animation) is a very expensive and time-consuming process, but also an astounding one, especially in the pre- and current-digital era. I can't help but notice a parallel theme as well: that the actions of one person (be it the Thief, Tack, or even Williams himself) can greatly affect everything around them. 

Williams has since made peace with the project, having gone on to make other short films (including the detailed and graphic short, Prologue, an Oscar-nominee from 2015, and the potential start of another ambitious feature) until his death in 2019. Although a working print from 1992 was screened at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in 2013, The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Cut Mark 4 (courtesy Garrett Gilchrist) may be the closest we'll ever get to seeing Williams' original vision coming to fruition.