The Thief and the Cobbler
| The Thief and the Cobbler | |
|---|---|
An unreleased poster made near the end of the film's production, before it was taken from Richard Williams.
|
|
| Directed by | Richard Williams |
| Produced by | Richard Williams Imogen Sutton Gary Kurtz (mid-1980s) |
| Written by | Richard Williams Margaret French |
| Starring | Vincent Price |
| Narrated by | Felix Aylmer (original version) |
| Music by |
Original version: David Burman Peter Shade David Cullen Released versions: Robert Folk |
| Cinematography | John Leatherbarrow |
| Edited by | Peter Bond |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Majestic Films (Princess) Miramax Family Films (Arabian) |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
92 minutes (Workprint) 81 minutes (Princess) 73 minutes (Arabian) |
| Country | United Kingdom United States Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28 million |
| Box office | $669,276 |
The Thief and the Cobbler is an animated fantasy film directed, co-written and co-produced by Canadian animator Richard Williams. The film is famous for its long, troubled history. Due to independent funding and complex animation, The Thief and the Cobbler was in and out of production for over three decades. It was finally placed into full production in 1988 when Warner Bros. agreed to finance and distribute the film. Negotiations broke down when production went over budget and behind schedule. Warner Bros. pulled out and a completion bond company assumed control of the film. The film was re-edited and re-structured by producer Fred Calvert without Williams' involvement, and released in Australia and South Africa as The Princess and the Cobbler in 1993; two years later, Miramax Films, at the time a subsidiary of Disney, released an even more heavily edited version of the film in North America under the title Arabian Knight.
With The Thief and the Cobbler being in and out of production from 1964 until 1995, a total of 31 years, it surpassed the 20-year Guinness record previously held by Tiefland (1954). This was, upon release, the last film of Kenneth Williams, who died in 1988, Sir Anthony Quayle, who died in 1989, and Vincent Price, who died in 1993, a month after the films release. This is also, to date, the final film to feature Stanley Baxter.
The film opens with a narrator describing a prosperous city called the Golden City, ruled by the sleepy King Nod and protected by three golden balls atop its tallest minaret. According to a prophecy, the city would fall to a race of warlike, one-eyed monsters, known as "One-Eyes", should the balls be removed, and could only be saved by "the simplest soul with the smallest and simplest of things". Living in the city are the good-hearted cobbler Tack, named for the ubiquitous pair of tacks held in his mouth, and a nameless, unsuccessful yet persistent thief.
...
Wikipedia