The Thief and the Cobbler is a 1993 unfinished animated fantasy film co-written and directed by Richard Williams, who intended it to be his magnum opus and a milestone in the animated medium. Originally devised in the 1960s, the film was in and out of production for almost three decades due to independent funding and ambitiously complex animation. It was finally placed into full production in 1989 when Warner Bros. agreed to finance and distribute the film after his successful animation direction for Who Framed Roger Rabbit. When production went over budget and behind schedule, and Disney's similarly-themed Aladdin loomed as imminent competition, Williams was forced out and the film was heavily re-edited and cheaply finished by producer Fred Calvert as a mainstream Disney-style musical. It was eventually released by Allied Filmmakers on 23 September 1993 in South Africa and Australia under the title The Princess and the Cobbler. Two years later, on 25 August 1995, Miramax Family Films, which was owned by Disney at the time, released another re-edit titled Arabian Knight in the United States. Both versions performed poorly at the box office and received mixed reviews.
Over the years, various companies and individuals, including Roy E. Disney, have discussed restoring the film to its original version. In 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences archived Williams's own 35 mm workprint. Williams acknowledged the film's rehabilitated reputation, due to projects like The Recobbled Cut, a restoration by Garrett Gilchrist, and Persistence of Vision, a 2012 documentary by Kevin Schreck detailing the production.
The Thief and the Cobbler is one of the films with the longest production times. It is the final film for several actors and artists, including animators Ken Harris (died 1982), Errol Le Cain (died 1989), Emery Hawkins (died 1989), Grim Natwick (died 1990), and Art Babbitt (died 1992), and actors Felix Aylmer (died 1979), Eddie Byrne (died 1981), Clinton Sundberg (died 1987), Kenneth Williams (died 1988), Sir Anthony Quayle (died 1989), and Vincent Price (died 1993, one month after the film's initial release). It has maintained a cult following since its release.22 Animated Cult Classics Worth Checking Out – MovieWeb
Plot
In a kingdom at the Arabian desert, the prosperous Golden City is ruled by the narcoleptic King Nod and protected by three golden balls atop its tallest minaret. According to a prophecy, the city would fall to "destruction and death" if the balls were removed, and could only be saved by "the simplest soul with the smallest and simplest of things." Living in the city is a cobbler, Tack, and a nameless, unsuccessful yet persistent Thief, who are both mute.
When the Thief sneaks into Tack's house, the two get stitched together and stumble outside, causing Tack's tacks to fall onto the street. Zigzag, King Nod's Grand Vizier, steps on one of the tacks and orders Tack to be arrested while the Thief escapes. Tack is brought before King Nod and his daughter, Princess Yum-Yum. Before Zigzag can convince King Nod to have Tack executed, Yum-Yum saves Tack by ordering him to fix a shoe she intentionally breaks. During repairs, Tack and Yum-Yum become increasingly attracted to each other, much to the jealousy of Zigzag, who plans to take over the kingdom and marry the princess.
Meanwhile, the Thief, having noticed the golden balls atop the minaret in the courtyard, breaks into the palace through a gutter. He steals the repaired shoe from Tack, prompting the cobbler to chase him through the palace. Upon retrieving the shoe, Tack bumps into Zigzag, who notices the shoe is fixed and imprisons Tack in a cell.
The One-Eyes, a race of warlike, cycloptic monsters, led by their leader, Mighty One-Eye, plan to destroy the city and have already slaughtered much of its frontier guard, all except for one mortally wounded soldier who escapes to warn the city; King Nod has a vision of them the next morning. While Zigzag tries to convince Nod of the kingdom's security, the Thief steals the balls after several attempts, only to lose them to Zigzag's minions. Tack escapes from his cell using his cobbling tools during the ensuing panic. King Nod notices the balls' disappearance when the soldier warns them of the invading One-Eyes. Zigzag attempts to use the stolen balls to negotiate Yum-Yum's hand in marriage in exchange for returning the balls, but when King Nod dismisses him, Zigzag defects to the One-Eyes and gives them the balls instead.
King Nod sends Yum-Yum, her nurse, and Tack to ask for help from a "mad and holy old Witch" in the desert. They are secretly followed by the Thief, who hears of a golden idol on the journey but fails to steal it. In the desert, they discover a band of dimwitted brigands led by Chief Roofless, whom Yum-Yum recruits as her bodyguards. They reach the hand-shaped tower where the Witch lives and learn that Tack is prophesied to save the Golden City. The Witch also presents a riddle—"Attack, attack, Tack! A tack, see? But it's what you do with what you've got!"—before destroying the entire tower with a storm cloud.
Tack and the others return to the Golden City to find the One-Eyes' massive war machine approaching. Tack shoots a single tack into the enemy's midst, sparking a Goldberg-esque chain reaction that destroys the entire One-Eye army including the war machine. In the midst of this, the Thief, avoiding death with almost every step, steals the golden balls from the collapsing machine. Zigzag tries to escape but falls into a pit, where he is eaten alive by alligators and his pet vulture, Phido. Mighty One-Eye is betrayed, wounded, and presumably killed by his own slave women by sitting on him as revenge for treating them as furniture. The Thief then runs into Tack while escaping with the balls, and after a brief scuffle, the Thief, deciding that the balls are not worth the trouble, reluctantly gives up and leaves them with Tack. With peace restored and the prophecy fulfilled, the city celebrates as Tack and Yum-Yum get married; Tack finally says, "I love you" in a baritone voice. The film ends with the Thief stealing the reel of the film and running away.
Cast Character Original version(The Thief and the Cobbler) Fred Calvert version(The Princess and the Cobbler) Miramax version(Arabian Knight)Princess Yum-Yum Sara Crowe Bobbi PageSara Crowe Jennifer Beals Bobbi Page Tack the Cobbler Unknown Steve Lively Matthew Broderick Steve Lively The Thief Unknown Ed E. Carroll Jonathan WintersKing Nod Anthony Quayle Clive RevillAnthony Quayle Mighty One-Eye Christopher Greener Kevin DorseyZigzag the Grand Vizier Vincent PriceRichard Williams Princess Yum-Yum's Nurse Joan Sims Mona MarshallJoan Sims Toni CollettePhido Donald Pleasence Eric BogosianDonald Pleasence Mad and Holy Old Witch Joan Sims Mona MarshallJoan Sims Toni ColletteChief Roofless Windsor DaviesDying Soldier Clinton SundbergGoblet Kenneth WilliamsTickleGofer Stanley BaxterSlapDwarf George Melly Hoof Eddie ByrneHook Thick WilsonGoolie Frederick ShawMaiden from Mombasa Margaret French Laughing Brigand Richard Williams Other Brigands Joss AcklandPeter ClaytonDerek HinsonDeclan MulhollandMike NashDermot WalshRamsay Williams Joss Ackland Peter ClaytonGeoff GoldenDerek HinsonDeclan MulhollandMike NashTony ScannellDermot WalshRamsay WilliamsRik Mayall Narrator Felix Aylmer Unknown Matthew BroderickSingers for the Brigands Randy CrenshawKevin DorseyRoger FreelandNick JamesonBob JoyceJon JoyceKerry KatzTed KingMichael LanningRaymond McLeodRick Charles NelsonScott Rummell
Notes
According to Richard Williams, Sean Connery was set to record Tack's one line, but never showed up at the studio, so the line was instead performed by a friend of his wife's. Connery's name remained credited as Tack in the end credits of the "Recobbled Cut" version before being removed.
While Yum-Yum's dialogue was mostly re-voiced by Bobbi Page for the Allied Filmmakers version, one vocal effect from Crowe is retained when Yum-Yum throws her pear at Zigzag in disgust during the polo game.
In both of the 1992 workprints, the Thief is heard making short grunts/wheezes in a few scenes—though not as many as in the Allied Filmmakers version. Actor Ed E. Carroll did additional ones for the Allied Filmmakers version.
Although Quayle's voice was mostly re-dubbed by Clive Revill in the re-edited versions of the film by Allied Filmmakers and Miramax, Quayle's uncredited voice can still be heard for an entire scene when King Nod gives a speech to his subjects. Revill also re-recorded some of his lines for the Miramax version, mostly discussing the Witch being related to the Mighty One-Eye and "the bearer of his other eye".
Sims' voice for the Witch was mostly re-dubbed by Marshall, but a few lines spoken by Sims were retained after she first fully materializes and when she receives her chest of money all the way up to the part when she's in a basket lighting a match to the fumes. Unlike the nanny, Sims was still credited in the Calvert cut.
Fred Calvert is credited on both of these versions.
The 1978 International Film Guide mentions that Vincent Price, Felix Aylmer, Donald Pleasence, and Anthony Quayle were cast in The Thief and the Cobbler. The 1979 International Film Guide mentions that Ramsay Williams, Thick Wilson, Peter Clayton, Windsor Davies, Mike Nash, Frederick Shaw, Dermot Walsh, Kenneth Williams, and Stanley Baxter were part of the cast.
Hilary Pritchard was initially cast as Yum-Yum and is listed in some of the original drafts of the script and a 1989 Cannes brochure. By the time of the 1992 workprints, she had been replaced by Sara Crowe. Pritchard's name was still retained in the credits of the "Recobbled Cut" version, until Mark 5 when Sara was finally credited.
Similarly, Miriam Margolyes was initially billed as the Maiden from Mombasa, but the workprint features co-writer Margaret French as the Maiden.
According to animator Michael Sporn, Paul Matthews was an African-American delivery person with a deep, dark voice whom Williams met in an elevator on the way to a rehearsal space during production on Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure. Matthews had not done any acting before, and so Williams had promptly cast him as the Mighty One-Eye. Not long afterward, however, Williams, wanting to go in a different direction, replaced Matthews' voice with "England's tallest man" Christopher Greener (mistakenly credited as Christopher Greenham or Chris Greenham in several pamphlets promoting the film) as the Mighty One-Eye. Matthews is still credited as the Mighty One-Eye in the "Recobbled Cut" version.
Catherine Schell and Thick Wilson (who was also the voice of Hook in this film) were proposed as the voices for Princess Mee-Mee, the sister of Princess Yum-Yum, and the enchanted ogre Prince Bubba, respectively, in an early draft of the film. Both characters were dropped in 1989 at the request of Warner Bros.
Many of the minor characters, such as Goblet, Gofer, Tickle, Slap, the Dying Soldier, and the alligators all have additional dialogue provided by currently unknown voice actors in the Miramax version. Additional characters exclusive to the Miramax version, including Zigzag's announcer is voiced by an unknown actor and the Thief's mother is voiced by Mickie McGowan, who is credited under "Loop Group" in the credits. Also, in the Miramax version, some lines from the brigands and the camel's laughter appear to be re-dubbed, again by unknown actors.
History Development and early production as Nasrudin (1964–1972)