August 18th: THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER (Richard Williams,1993)

A lowly cobbler is falsely imprisoned because of a mischievous thief and falls in love with a princess, as their kingdom is besieged by enemies both internal and external.

Animator Richard Williams worked mainly on title sequences for movies until his short animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol won an Academy Award 1971. His dream project has its origin in 1964, with illustrations he made for a collection of ancient tales. He worked for 8 years on turning this into an animated film, bringing on esteemed collaborator Ken Harris, a veteran of both Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera studios. Eventually, a falling out with the family of the book's author put the production on hold.

A new script was commissioned, centered around the characters Williams had created himself (and retained the rights to). Williams polished the script repeatedly with his wife, creating more abstract dialogue for some characters, and removing all dialogue from two key ones, looking to incorporate some of the silent comedy aesthetic. Voice work was done by horror icon Vincent Price, Anthony Quayle (Lawrence Of Arabia), and Donald Pleasance (Halloween).

Production moved slowly as Williams was forced to work on other projects to raise funds. He sought out the assistance from veterans of animation's "Golden Age", including those from the Disney and Fleischer studios. During the 80s, various attempts at funding were made but eventually fell through. Based on his work-in-progress, Williams secured the Roger Rabbit job which brought notoriety and new interest in the project, and a deal with Warner Bros. to complete the film.

As the years passed, Williams trained younger animators to replace those who had retired or moved on. Progress was still painstaking, with many innovations requiring extra time, as any computer-generated imagery was forbidden by the director. Nearing completion, a poorly-received test screening for executives resulted in a completion bond company seizing the materials and firing Williams from his own film.

The film was hacked apart by producers, with songs added, the dialogue changed, and voices re-cast. Meanwhile, Disney's Aladdin had already borrowed plot, character, and design elements from Williams' work, making Cobbler appear like a knock-off. It was bought by Miramax and re-cut again for its North American release, under the title Arabian Knight, and was a failure financially and critically.

Early versions made by Williams had been copied and passed around the animation community for years. An attempt by Roy E. Disney to restore the film to its original version sputtered out. Meanwhile, fan and fellow animator Garrett Gilchrist had been collecting all available materials and created his own restoration edit, "The Recobbled Cut", earning endorsements from many who had worked on Cobbler. He has made various revisions to this edit as more material has become available. William's workprint has since been preserved by the Motion Picture Academy.

Running time is approx. 100 min.