The Thief and the Cobbler Review

The Thief and the Cobbler

Release Date: 30th June 1994 – Australia (as The Princess and the Cobbler)

Production Companies

Allied Filmmakers

Richard Williams Productions

Genre: Animation/Family/

Fantasy

Rating: PG (Workprint/Re-
                    Cobbled Cut)

              G (Princess)

Runtime: 91 minutes
                 (Workprint)

                 77 minutes
                 (Princess)

Budget: $28,000,000

Plot Summary

The story is about a

nameless thief who

unleashes an ancient

prophecy of destruction and

death by releasing three

magical golden balls on the

top of a minaret that

protects the magnificent

Golden City, causing it to

be in danger of invasion by

an army of one-eyed men.

The only one who could

save the city is a young,

shy and poor shoemaker

named Tack with the help of

Princess Yum-Yum and her

nanny, a band of brigands

and, most unlikely, the Thief

himself. Together, they

must attempt to find the

three golden balls and

prevent the one-eyed army

and the evil grand vizier

Zigzag from conquering

the Golden City.

Voice Cast (All Versions)

Vincent Price – Zigzag the

Grand Vizier

Windsor Davies – Chief

Roofless

Stanley Baxter – Gofer/Slap
Kenneth Williams – Goblet/

Tickle
Clinton Sundberg – Dying Soldier
Frederick Shaw – Goolie
Thick Wilson – Hook
Eddie Byrne – Hoof

Voice Cast (Both Versions)

Donald Pleasence – Phido the Vulture

Joan Sims – Mad and Holy

Old Witch

Voice Cast (Original Version)

Felix Aylmer – Narrator

Sara Crowe – Princess Yum-Yum

Anthony Quayle – King Nod

Joan Sims – Princess

Yum-Yum's Nanny

Chris Greener – Mighty One-Eye

Voice Cast (The Princess and the Cobbler)

Steve Lively – Narrator/

Tack the Cobbler

Bobbi Page – Princess Yum-Yum

Ed E. Carroll – The Thief

Clive Revill – King Nod

Kevin Dorsey – Mighty One-

Eye

Mona Marshall – Princess

Yum-Yum's Nanny/Mad and

Holy Old Witch

Crew

Writer/Producer/Director/

Lead Animator – Richard Williams

Completion Producer/

Director: Los Angeles –

Fred Calvert

Writer – Margaret French
Additional Story and

Dialogue – Parker Bennett, Terry Runte, Tom Towler and Stephen Zito

Additional Story and Dialogue/Completion

Producer: Los Angeles – Bette L. Smith
Executive Producer – Jake Eberts
Producer – Imogen Sutton
Co-Producer: Los Angeles –

Jacobus Rose
Art Director – Roy Naisbitt

Artistic Supervisor: Calvert/Cobbler

Productions – Darrell Rooney

Background Styling – Errol Le Cain

Character Animation Supervisors – Neil Boyle
and Tim Watts

Master Animator – Ken Harris
Lead Animators – Art Babbitt,
Paul Bolger, David Byers Brown, Alan Simpson,

Dietmar Kremer, Denis Deegan, Gary Dunn, 

Sahin Ersoz, Steve Evangelatos, Robert

Malherbe, Mark Naisbitt, Brent Odell,

Philip Pepper, Dean Roberts,

Michael Schlingmann, Andreas-Wessel Therhorn,

Emery Hawkins, Alexander Williams,

Holger Leihe, Margaret Grieve, Jurgen Gross,

Alyson Hamilton, Mike Swindall and

Tahsin Özgür

Lead/Assistant Animator – Venelin Veltchev

Lead Animator/Animator: Calvert/Cobbler

Productions – Roger Vizard

Director of Photography – John Leatherbarrow
Lyricist: Songs – Norman Gimbel
Composer: Songs/Music – Robert Folk

Editor – Peter Bond

Additional Editor: Los Angeles –

Harry Keramidas

Supervising Sound Editor – Mike Le Mare

Sound Designer/Effects Editor –

Robert L. Sephton

Sound Re-Recording Mixers: Los Angeles –

Rick Ash and Dean A. Zupancic

Review

THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER (known as The Princess and the Cobbler in Australia) was an unfinished, bizarre animated film by Richard Williams, who animated Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I liked the film's (M.C. Escher-inspired) backgrounds, optical illusions and animation style. The latter nearly feels like CGI, except it is done in three dimensions by hand. It's a shame that it got taken from its creator after 28 years of production. Subsequently, the film was cheaply finished and edited, with half of the footage cut and turned into an Aladdin rip-off by adding unnecessary songs and dialogue for the originally silent character, Tack, which depleted the film's value.

I praise the film's surviving original content, such as Vincent Price's marvellous and final performance as Zigzag. Keeping the Thief silent and the Witch character in most scenes are effective choices. The best moments include when Tack chases the Thief for stealing Princess Yum-Yum's shoe and most of the War Machine.

Whether or not you have seen THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER, try the Re-Cobbled Cut version instead of the Australian version because this version has no forgettable songs. The Re-Cobbled Cut shows what the original version could have been if finished and is available on YouTube.

Star rating: (3/5) Average

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