The Thief Lord (film)
| The Thief Lord | |
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German theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Richard Claus |
| Produced by | Richard Claus |
| Written by |
Cornelia Funke (novel) Richard Claus Daniel Musgrave |
| Starring |
Aaron Johnson Jasper Harris Alice Connor Rollo Weeks George Mackay |
| Music by | Nigel Clarke Michael Csányi-Wills |
| Cinematography | David Slama |
| Edited by | Peter R. Adam |
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Production
company |
Thema Production
Comet Film Produktion GmbH Delux Productions Future Films Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany Arclight Films |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures (international) |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | Luxembourg UK Germany |
| Language | English |
The Thief Lord is a 2006 British-German family film directed by Richard Claus. It is a joint production of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., Future Films Limited, Comet Film, and Thema Production. The film is distributed by Warner Bros. The DVD was released on March 14, 2006, and the one disc-edition includes a theatrical trailer that ran in theaters in Europe and Mosca's cartoon from the film by itself.
It was nominated for the 2006 World Soundtrack Awards, with Original Music by Nigel Clarke and Michael Csányi-Wills. The screenplay was written by Richard Claus and Daniel Musgrave, based on the novel of the same title, by German author Cornelia Funke.
The film follows two recently orphaned brothers, Bo (Jasper Harris) and Prosper (Aaron Johnson), dumped in the care of a cruel aunt and uncle, who escape their impending separation by running off to Venice. Hiding in the canals and alleyways of the city, the boys are befriended by a gang of young urchins and their enigmatic masked leader, the Thief Lord (Rollo Weeks). From their home base of an old cinema theater, the children steal from the rich to support themselves and soon capture the interest of a bumbling detective. However, a greater threat to the children is something from a forgotten past: a beautiful magical treasure that can change the age of anyone who rides it.
When Prosper and Boniface's parents die, their aunt Esther attempts to adopt the younger brother, an adorable five-year-old who eventually turns six as the movie progresses, named Bo (Jasper Harris). She plans to send twelve-year-old Prosper (Aaron Johnson) away to boarding school. However, before they can separate the two boys Prosper takes Bo to Venice, the magical city about which their mother often told stories.
Once in Venice, the boys live on the streets, and the money Prosper brought quickly runs out. Bo becomes ill and Prosper is forced to resort to stealing cough medicine from a pharmacy. The boys are nearly caught and lose the rest of their food, but are rescued by the mysterious Thief Lord (Rollo Weeks). The Thief Lord, a mask-wearing teenager whose name is Scipio, invites the boys to come with him to his hideout, an abandoned movie theatre called the Stella. The Stella is also home to three orphaned children Scipio has rescued: Hornet (Alice Connor), Riccio (George MacKay) and Mosca (Lathaniel Dyer). They steal from stores and Venice's wealthy tourists, but the majority of their money comes from Scipio, who goes on mysterious raids and always brings back treasures. Unfortunately, Barbarossa - the sleazy antique dealer the children have to sell their stolen goods to - always cheats the children. Bo brags that Prosper "is great at selling things" and Prosper ends up getting Barbarossa to quintuple his asking price. Barbarossa tells Riccio and Prosper there is a client who needs something stolen and is willing to pay big money for it.
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