Thief And The Cobbler, The – Recobbled Cut

From the three-time Academy Award winning animator of Who Framed Roger Rabbit …

Restored version of Richard Williams’ unfinished animated masterpiece, The Thief and the Cobbler.

Unofficial restoration by Garrett Gilchrist. This is not intended for profit, just a fanmade research project and tribute to this classic film.

The film was worked on for 26 years, with a team of master animators like Ken Harris and Art Babbit. This film inspired Disney’s Aladdin. Ruined versions of it were released as Arabian Knight and The Princess and the Cobbler.

For the first time ever on video, enjoy the original version of this lost
animation classic, written and directed by three-time Academy Award winning
animator Richard Williams (animation director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit).
Nearly 30 years in the making, a labor of love by a team of animation greats,
this was to be the masterpiece of Williams career, perhaps the most ambitious
independent animated film ever conceived. The film was the inspiration for
Disneys film Aladdin, which proved to be its undoing. After over two decades of
work, the film was taken away from Williams when he couldnt meet his deadline.
It was eventually bought by Disney, recut and destroyed. It has never been seen
the way it was intended to be seen … until now. Based on Williams’ original
workprint, missing scenes have been restored using storyboards and unfinished
animation. Restored to its true form, this lost classic has finally been found -
for you at home.

When Richard Williams was fired from his film The Thief and the Cobbler (after 26 years of work), Fred Calvert was hired to finish it quickly and cheaply. He did an incredibly poor job. His version was called The Princess and the Cobbler, later recut further by Miramax into the nearly unwatchable Arabian Knight. This “Recobbled Cut” uses footage from Williams’ original 1991 workprint with higher quality footage from Arabian Knight and Princess and the Cobbler … this does include some lower quality Calvert animation with the high quality Williams animation – it’s easy to tell the difference. The film has been carefully reedited to match Willliams’ original 1991 workprint for the film, and his original vision. Calvert footage has only been used if it conforms to Williams’ storyboards – in some cases footage has literally been reanimated frame by frame in Photoshop to make it match Williams’ scenes! The restoration in total took 4 months to complete.

Restoration from the editor/filmmaker who brought you Deleted Magic, SW Classic Edition, and Gods of Los Angeles.

Story:
It is written among the limitless constellations of the celestial heavens, and
in the depths of the emerald seas, and upon every grain of sand in the vast
deserts, that the world which we see is an outward and visible dream, of an
inward and invisible reality … Once upon a time there was a golden city. In
the centre of the golden city, atop the tallest minaret, were three golden
balls. The ancients had prophesied that if the three golden balls were ever
taken away, harmony would yield to discord, and the city would fall to
destruction and death. But… the mystics had also foretold that the city might
be saved by the simplest soul with the smallest and simplest of things. In the
city there dwelt a lowly shoemaker, who was known as Tack the Cobbler. Also in
the city… existed a Thief, who shall be … nameless.