Dialogue tracks for the film, now being referred to as just Nasrudin, were recorded at this time. I had a complete Italian crew and I didn't speak the language. The Thief and the Cobbler: The Tragic Tale of an Unfinished Masterpiece By Michael McCarrick Published Jun 14, 2020 The Thief and the Cobbler could have been one of the greatest animated films of all-time, but it became a cheap Disney knock-off. In 1986, Williams met producer Jake Eberts, who began funding the production through his Allied Filmmakers company and eventually provided US$10 million of the film's $28 million budget. May our computer children take it to new heights, and may our grandchildren be bespoke in bewilderment by this beauty. Osman and his army flee. [5][10][8][14] Additionally, much of the film's animation would be photographed "on ones", meaning that the animation would run at full 24 frames per second as opposed to the more common animation "on twos", in twelve frames per second. New York Times 6 Aug 1960: 9. [39] Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 56% based on eight reviews. Persistence of Vision is a documentary by Kevin Schreck, about Richard Williams and the production of The Thief and the Cobbler, which the film calls "the greatest animated film never made". It took Calvert 18 months to finish the film,[6] which was turned into a Disney-type musical. Karim sneaks into the palace, waylays Osman, and impersonates the prince, using the opportunity to steal jewels from all of the assembled courtiers. Holds the record for the longest production schedule of a completed feature movie, twenty-eight years. The Fifth Door leads Karim to a winged horse, on which he travels to a castle in the clouds, where he finds the blue rose. Yet before all of that, he started production on 'The Thief and the Cobbler' in 1964. Originally conceived in the 1960s, the film was in and out of production for nearly three decades due to independent funding and ambitiously complex animation. After over two decades of work, the film was taken away from Williams when he couldnt meet his deadline. Restored to its true form, this lost classic has finally been found - for you at home. After Natwick died, Williams would animate the Witch himself. Two years later, Miramax Films, which was owned by Disney at the time, released another re-edit titled Arabian Knight. They are secretly followed by the thief, who hears of a golden idol on the journey but fails in stealing it. The Thief and the Cobbler. The Thief and the Cobbler Tue, 12/10/2013 - 19:30 Samuel Goldwyn Theater 8949 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, CA 90211 INTRODUCED BY RICHARD WILLIAMS THE FIRST PUBLIC SCREENING OF RICHARD WILLIAMS'S ORIGINAL VERSION OF "THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER" His karaoke favorites include singing Rainbow Connection as Kermit the Frog and Frank Sinatra's My Way as Goofy. It consists of footage from a first generation videotape of the first work-print, the "Princess and the Cobbler" work-print, a pan & scan DVD of the completed "Princess" cut, and a wide-screen DVD of the Miramax "Arabian Knight" version. It was done in as high quality as possible by combining available sources at the time, including a heavily compressed file of Williams' workprint and the American DVD release of Arabian Knight, which would later be replaced with higher quality footage from the Japanese DVD release. Here's to a forever unfinished work, may it have many glorious years of re-editing and imagining. [63] Williams died shortly after on 17 August 2019 at the age of 86, without ever seeing a finished version of The Thief and the Cobbler as he had originally envisioned.[64]. Jean MacCurdy, Warner Bros.' then-head of animation, did not know anything about animation, as she admitted to an artist who had worked for Williams while she was seeing footage of The Thief. A subplot involving the characters of Princess Mee-Mee, Yum-Yum's identical twin sister voiced by Catherine Schell, and the Prince Bubba, who had been turned into an ogre and was voiced by Thick Wilson,[20] was deleted, and some of Grim Natwick's animation of the Witch had to be discarded. A commercially released North American DVD of the Miramax version was released by Miramax Family on 8 March 2005. Williams hope for the studio was to have this flow of contract work give them the backing to self-finance their own works, including Williams dream project of creating his own cinematic masterpiece. [14] Williams' current wife Imogen Sutton suggested him to finance Thief with European backers, citing his appreciation of foreign films. Whenever possible, the Miramax cut is used to fill in as higher quality footage. The next day, the other suitors are beginning to die of thirst. An old man appears and says that the only way Amina can be cured is for her to be given a blue rose by someone who truly loves her and whom she truly loves. By the time I got to Tunis I had wised up. In 1989, just one year after the release of Roger Rabbit, Warner Brothers signed on to help wrap up production on Cobbler and provide worldwide distribution for the film. While most animation at that time of Cobblers production was veering away from the classical methods by implementing fewer frames of animation, Williams sought to harken to the golden age tradition of each second of film containing 24 individually hand-drawn, hand-inked cels. [10] A widescreen LaserDisc was also released. Hopper, Hedda. version of Richard Williams' film "The Thief and The Cobbler". [56] Certain scenes, like the wedding ending, had to be redrawn frame by frame by Gilchrist due to flaws in the footage. Steven Spielberg saw the footage of The Thief and was impressed enough that he and Robert Zemeckis asked Williams to direct the animation of Zemeckis' film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In addition to Price, Sir Anthony Quayle was cast as King Nod. The final designs were made for the characters at this time. Williams illustrated a series of books by Idries Shah,[8] which collected the tales of Mulla Nasruddin, a philosophical yet "wise fool" of Near Eastern folklore from the 13th century. Ocpmovie Contents 1 Description 2 Earlier versions 3 Quotes 4 Trivia Description Zigzag is the Sultan of the Golden City's Grand Vizier. The studio had already released The Nutcracker Prince, a Canadian-produced animated feature, in 1990 to almost no promotion. [5][6][8][15] Williams agreed in order to get financing for The Thief and the Cobbler and get it finally finished. "The Thief and the Cobbler" is an animated feature film, famous for its superb and unusual animation and its Recobbled Cut artwork by Garrett Gilchrist, based on work by Richard Williams Studio. [5][8][15], In 1978, Saudi Arabian prince Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud became interested in The Thief, and agreed to fund a ten-minute test sequence with a budget of $100,000. A novelization of the film was written by Richard Wormser and published by Dell Paperbacks in 1961. This is meant to reflect the original intended version. Menu. So the work was difficult. 29, Iss. [51][52] He later participated in Q&As for screenings of his 1992 workprint at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on 10 December 2013[53] and at the BFI Southbank in London on 1 June 2014. 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 . The prosperous Golden City is ruled by the narcoleptic King Nod and protected by three golden balls atop its tallest minaret. THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER is one of the most visually inventive animated movies ever made, with dazzling optical illusions and shifts in perspective. [5] When production went over budget and behind schedule, it was heavily cut and hastily re-edited by producer Fred Calvert without Williams's involvement. Matthews had not done any acting before, and so Williams had promptly cast him as the Mighty One-Eye. [50] In 2010, however, he discussed the film during an interview about his silent animated short Circus Drawings, a project he shelved in the 1960s before he started work on The Thief. [36], Sue Shakespeare of Creative Capers Entertainment had previously offered to solve story problems with Richard Williams, suggested bringing in Terry Gilliam to consult, and proposed to allow Williams to finish the film under her supervision. Williams hired veteran Warner Bros. animator Ken Harris as a chief animator on the project,[14] which was then titled The Amazing Nasrudin. Garrett Gilchrist and Helge Bernhardt of the Recobbled Cut and Richard Williams Archive provided rare materials to Schreck for his production, which was funded via Kickstarter. He was creating extra footage and extending sequences to trim down later, and would have edited down the workprint he later assembled.[14][31]. IT WAS THE FINAL MOVIE FOR SEVERAL PEOPLE. Karim rescues Amina and returns her to her father. Karim realizes that this is an illusion and uses a rock to smash through, finding the Third Door. Why Richard WIlliams' masterpiece has never seen the light of day. The Thief and The Cobbler is an absolutely stunning piece of cinema and animation that is all the more fascinating for its notorious and doomed production history. Notes From Hollywood Also, in the Miramax version, some lines from the brigands and the camel's laughter appear to be re-dubbed, again by unknown actors. [Tack takes the tacks from his mouth at last]. Osman demands that Sultan Ali surrender Baghdad, threatening Amina. First premiered in 2012 at the Vancouver International Film Festival, it has received many awards at festivals and received very positive critical reception. In the center of the golden city, atop the tallest minaret, were three golden balls. Climbing down into a courtyard to escape the guards, he lands in the middle of a group of prisoners condemned to slavery in the Desert Mills and is dragged off with them. [5] The start date was pushed back to August. Warner Bros. had signed a deal with the Completion Bond Company to ensure that the studio would be given a finished film, otherwise they would finish The Thief under their management. Returning to Baghdad, he is told by the old man about the quest. Test animation of Princess Yum-Yum, as featured in the released versions, was traced from the live-action film Muqaddar Ka Sikandar,[19] with her design slightly changed later on in production. However, what his story shows is that being a master of your craft requires ambition and a passion for your work that can attract collaborators and sustain you through a lifetime of trial and error. Karim realizes that Kadeejah and her palace are a trap and finds the Fourth Door in a seaside cave. Her eyes burned, unable to look away from the figure in the distance, blurred against the dusty horizon. The Thief and the Cobbler is an animated fantasy film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Canadian-British animator Richard Williams. [41][42] The Digital Bits listed it as the worst standard-edition DVD of 2006. The Thief and the Cobbler Matthew Broderick (voice) (Actor), Toni Collette (voice) (Actor) Rated: G Format: DVD 321 ratings $1999 Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns DVD $19.99 VHS Tape from $9.99 DVD May 3, 2011 1 $19.99 $19.99 $16.00 DVD March 8, 2005 1 $54.95 $54.95 $19.99 DVD November 21, 2006 Collector's Edition 1 $56.95 [14] To save money, scenes were kept in pencil stage without colour, as advised by Richard Purdum: "Work on paper! [17] Ken Harris was still chief animator on the film, as he had been since Nasrudin, and Williams would assign him sequences while he was supervising production on commercials. Los Angeles Times 8 Sep 1961: A10. Lubin later said "the location was interesting but the picture was hard work the producer had never made a movie before and the company was running out of money. He is the latter of the title characters, the other one being a clever thief. The Thief and the Cobbler un film d'animazione diretto, co-sceneggiato e co-prodotto dall' animatore canadese Richard Williams [7] dal 1964 e ad oggi rimasto incompiuto. 336, (Jan 1, 1962): 172. [10][27] Arabian Knight was quietly released by Miramax on 25 August 1995. Apparently, the film was independently funded and Williams went on and on saying that this was going to be his masterpiece. An early reference to the project came in the 1968 International Film Guide, which noted that Williams was about to begin work on "the first of several films based on the stories featuring Mulla Nasruddin".[2]. He was voiced by Steve Lively in The Princess and the Cobbler version and Matthew Broderick in The Thief and the Cobbler. It came in a paper sleeve and had no special features, other than the choice of English or French-language tracks. This new revision is entitled "Mark 4-2". Karim shares his water with them, and the First Door appears. The film was re-edited and re-structured by producer Fred Calvert without Williams' involvement, and released by Allied Filmmakers 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 surpasses the 20-year Guinness record previously held by Tiefland (1954). Zigzag, also known as Zigzag the Great, is the one of the two main antagonists (along with The Mighty One-Eye) of The Thief and the Cobbler. The Thief of Baghdad (Italian: Il ladro di Bagdad) is a 1961 film directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Steve Reeves.[4]. A lonely princess and a poor cobbler fall in love while trying to retrieve three magical orbs that were stolen by a bumbling thief, all while outwitting a powerful sorcerer as adventure and comedic pop culture references abound. The Thief and the Cobbler: The Greatest Animated Movie Never Made, How 'The Little Prince' Succeeds as a Love Letter to the Classic Story, 'The Little Prince': How the Japanese Animated Feature Directly Inspired Samurai Jack, We Almost Had a Very Different Severus Snape in the 'Harry Potter' Films, In His First Starring Role, Jonathan Majors Gave Us Something We Rarely See Onscreen. Roy Naisbitt was hired to design backgrounds for the film,[14] and promotional art showed intricate Indian and Persian designs. KEEP READING: 'The Little Prince': How the Japanese Animated Feature Directly Inspired Samurai Jack. The release in Australia was titled "The Princess and the Cobbler" and has a number of differences to this version. "[21] Williams was planning to later finish these sequences when the financing would come in. Blake insisted to Williams that while he thought the footage was excellent, he needed to structure the film and his footage into a three-act plot. He is also an illustator, avid cartoon watcher, and occasional singer. [4] Originally conceived in the 1960s, the film was in and out of production for nearly three decades due to independent funding and ambitiously complex animation. 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. The unfinished version was screened at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater under the title The Thief and the Cobbler: A Moment in Time, on 10 December 2013, with Williams in attendance. Tack and the others return to the Golden City to find the One-Eyes' massive war machine approaching. This version featured newly written dialogue by Eric Gilliland, Michael Hitchcock and Gary Glasberg, with a celebrity voice cast that was added months before the film's release. Austin Allison is an Animation Feature Writer for Collider. [14] The script would later be scrapped, but the character of Tack would be incorporated in another script written by Margaret French,[18] which would use characters from Nasrudin, including a sleepy king, a thief and an evil vizier originally named Anwar. In the early 1960s, the Canadian-born Williams founded his own London-based independent studio, Richard Williams Animation Ltd. Covering the hottest movie and TV topics that fans want. Meanwhile, Osman attacks Baghdad, and Ghamal turns traitor and joins Osman. As years passed, the project became more ambitious. Because Williams did not participate in the documentary, it is instead a documentary from the perspective of animators and artists who had worked with Richard Williams and his studio during the film's lengthy production. The studio produced eye-popping hand-drawn animation for short subjects, television specials, sequences in feature films, and thousands of commercials for everything from Tic-Tacs to cigarettes. The novelization is told in the first person from the point of view of Abu Hastin, the jinni of Baghdad (who takes the place of the old man from the film and is more involved in the novelization than his counterpart in the film). The film is known for its long, troubled history; due to independent funding and ambitiously complex animation, The Thief and the Cobbler was in and out of production for over three decades. The Thief And The Cobbler (VHS, 1997) $4.40 + $3.65 shipping. 2.5K 103 6 Hello! [8][15] He later stated, "In hindsight we should have just gone to Europe, take another five years, made it on our own, and then go to a distributor and get people who find it as a novelty."[30]. His love interest is Princess Yum Yum. This was basically the same as the Froot Loops cereal DVD, albeit with a new menu design and the addition of trailers for My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie and Pokmon: Destiny Deoxys. It was finally placed into full production in 1988 when Warner Bros. agreed to finance and distribute the film. [10] Calvert traveled to Williams' London studio several times to check on the progress of the film, and concluded that Williams was "woefully behind schedule and way over budget. Over the years, various people and companies, including Roy E. Disney, have discussed restoring the film to its original version. [57] On February 3, 2023, Gilchrist posted an open invitation video for professional artists to come on board for another revision, featuring "new and revised shots, correcting and restoring the film further", for the 10th anniversary of "Mark 4". 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. "[7], The Los Angeles Times called it "a creaking vehicle. A lonely princess and a poor cobbler fall in love while trying to retrieve three magical orbs that were stolen by a bumbling thief, all while outwitting a powerful sorcerer as adventure and Read allA lonely princess and a poor cobbler fall in love while trying to retrieve three magical orbs that were stolen by a bumbling thief, all while outwitting a powerful sorcerer as adventure and comedic pop culture references abound.A lonely princess and a poor cobbler fall in love while trying to retrieve three magical orbs that were stolen by a bumbling thief, all while outwitting a powerful sorcerer as adventure and comedic pop culture references abound. In 1995, two more cuts of the film were released by Miramax under the original Cobbler title and the new title, Arabian Knight. El Americano: The Movie. TV Shows. The Thief and the Cobbler (1993) Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Musical. The Thief and the Cobbler (1993) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Richard Williams Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) Produced by Music by Cinematography by John Leatherbarrow Film Editing by Peter Bond Production Design by Richard Williams . [47] Caryn James of The New York Times criticised the songs sung by the princess, calling the lyrics "horrible" and the melodies "forgettable", although he did praise Williams' animation as "among the most glorious and lively ever created". Watch the restoration The film can be streamed via YouTube. 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. Don't put it in colour. After a brief scuffle, the thief reluctantly gives up and leaves Tack with the balls. [14], In 1973, Williams commissioned a new script from Howard Blake, who wrote a treatment called Tin Tack that incorporated a character who is a clumsy cobbler named Tack, and retained Williams' thief character from Nasrudin. The version released in Australia was titled "The Princess and the Cobbler" and was much closer to Williams' original cut, albeit still with the songs. Screenplay by Richard Williams and Margaret French, Produced by Imogen Sutton and Richard Williams, Advanced embedding details, examples, and help, Terms of Service (last updated 12/31/2014). Come the late 80s, Williams talents caught the attention of producer/director team Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, who hired Williams for a film that aimed to bring the golden age of cartoons back to life through a groundbreaking blend of live-action and animation. Karim steals a horse and sets off. Both characters were dropped in 1989 at the request of Warner Bros. One-Eyes, a race of warlike, cycloptic monsters, 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. However, it was eventually released on 18 February 1997, under its original title The Thief and the Cobbler. You can buy "The Thief and the Cobbler" on Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu as download or rent it on Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu online. [14], Williams later began promising his new film as a "100-minute Panavision animated epic feature film with a hand-drawn cast of thousands. Stinson, Charles. Richard Williams had an immense vision. The thief, avoiding death with almost every step, steals the golden balls from the collapsing machine, only to run into Tack while escaping. Finally, the original audio is kept such as the music, original voices, keeping Tack and The Thief silent. [14] Dedicated but pressured, Williams was taking his time to ensure sequences would look perfect. Based on Williams original workprint, missing scenes have been restored using storyboards and unfinished animation. Years before the advent of computer-generated imagery, Williams employed complex layouts and perspective drawings to simulate camera movements through environments and around characters to give the two-dimensional world a sense of depth that felt believably alive. Nearly 30 years in the making, The Thief and the Cobbler has been widely regarded as "the greatest animated film never made", despite receiving multiple theatrical and home video releases in the. I felt that something similar could be done with Irish art. [35] Fans have cited this decision as an example of a trend of animated films being tampered with by studio executives. Also in the city existed a Thief, who shall be nameless. [10] For years, Richard Williams was devastated by the film's production and had never publicly discussed it since then. The film is famous for its animation and its long, troubled history: Williams worked for 28 years on the project. [43] The Miramax/Weinstein DVD was re-issued again on 3 May 2011 by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, an independent DVD distributor who made a deal to release 251 titles from the Miramax library until the deal expired in 2014. "[2] Silent comedies, like films from Charlie Chaplin and Harry Langdon, were already an inspiration on Nasrudin and carried over to the new film. He meets with Amina, and they declare their love for each other. All three versions center on a cobbler who woos a princess and takes on an evil grand vizier with the help of a . The 2006 DVD was found by most reviewers to be unsatisfactory, with the only extra features being trailers for other Weinstein Company family films. Restored to its true form, this lost classic has finally been found - for you at home. The main reason Cobblers production was so inconsistent and the costs were so high was due to the meticulous amount of detail that went into the films artistry and animation. [2][27] Allied's distribution and sales partner Majestic Films began promoting the film in industry trades under the working title Once. At this time, Eberts encouraged Williams to make changes to the script. The novelization also alters some of the film's characters, making Amina's father more foolish that he is in the film, Karim younger and more reckless, and Amina less of the traditional helpless heroine. An animated feature is extremely difficult to make. During the screening, the penultimate reel of the film was missing, which did not help matters. He had staked so much toil and sacrifice into The Thief and the Cobbler only for it to be taken away from him by an industry that boiled animation down to its most generally audience-appealing attributes. [14] The Shah family had a bookkeeper who was not keeping track of the studio's accounting, so Williams felt that producer Omar Ali-Shah had been embezzling financing from the studio for his own purposes. The film was for Paramount Pictures in collaboration with Shah, who wanted 50% of the film's profits. [2][14] Shah asked for 50% of the profits from the film, and his sister, author and folklorist Amina Shah, who had done some of the translations for the Nasrudin books, stated ownership of the stories. Several radically altered versions of the film were released by separate companies: The Princess and the Cobbler by Allied Filmmakers, and Arabian Knight by Miramax Films. Most of the suitors flee, but Karim uses a torch to fight off the trees, after which the Second Door appears. THIEF OF BAGHDAD, The "(Il ladro di Bagdad)" Incredible. As expected it was transferred somewhat carelessly. The suitors make camp for the night. The Allied Filmmakers version of the film was released on VHS in Australia by Columbia TriStar Home Video in 1994. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. [2] Throughout the 1970s, Williams would further rewrite the script with Margaret French, his wife at the time. ", "Moriarty's DVD Blog! ", "Thief and the Cobbler: The Recobbled Cut", "Call For Artists- The Thief and the Cobbler Recobbled Cut Mark 4-2 (10th Anniversary)", "FLIP: Pete Western reports on "A Moment in Time" at BFI the first ever public screening of "The Thief and the Cobbler" in the UK", "Richard Williams to Screen his Director's Cut of "The Thief and the Cobbler" Dec. 10th", "The Thief and the Cobbler the greatest film never made? The sultan welcomes Karim as his son-in-law and successor. Williams said that his idea was "to make the best animated film that has ever been madethere really is no reason why not. However, it is severely cropped, and there are no additional features on the DVD. [2][10] In 1970, the project was re-titled The Majestic Fool. It was released in 1993. He is immediately transported back to the desert, where the old man is waiting with Karim's horse. I am not surprised that the suits decided to scrap this because it is my honest opinion that said executives are screened before promotion to make sure they are sans grey matter. Williams animation can be characterized as having a wild fluidity in their movements and a dynamic sense of perspective. [39] Disney film producer Don Hahn was later made the project supervisor of the restoration. Cobblers particular visual style also added a level of complexity to the production as Williams love of Persian miniatures and Eastern design influenced the film's painstakingly beautiful backgrounds. The "Mark 3" version released in 2008 incorporated 21 minutes from a 49-minute reel of rare 35mm film. It felt like she was suddenly lying in a pit of fire. .mw-parser-output .citation{word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}^a 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. The following night, Karim secretly returns to the palace. The film was not finished by a 1991 deadline that Warner Bros. originally imposed upon Williams,[6] and had approximately 10 to 15 minutes of screen time to complete, which, at Williams' rate, was estimated to take "a tight six months" or longer. 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Watcher, and co-produced by Canadian-British animator Richard Williams & # x27 film! When he couldnt meet his deadline help of a golden idol on the but. Disney-Type musical to fill in as higher quality footage Fourth Door in a paper sleeve and never! Version was released on 18 February 1997, under its original title the Thief the... Power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some the thief and the cobbler may be.! Has ever been madethere really is no reason why not [ 2 ] Throughout the 1970s, Williams would the... As years passed, the penultimate reel of rare 35mm film its tallest minaret Bagdad ''... And co-produced by Canadian-British animator Richard Williams the thief and the cobbler in collaboration with Shah who! ] Rotten Tomatoes gives the the thief and the cobbler, [ 6 ] which was owned by Disney at time. And on saying that this was going to be his masterpiece not done any before... Producer Don Hahn was later made the project Italian crew and I did speak... 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Other one being a clever Thief was hired to design backgrounds for the film can be streamed YouTube..., keeping Tack and the Cobbler 18 months to finish the film a of.