The Thief and the Cobbler Recobbled Cut Mk4
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Same version released in 2013.
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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.
“ANIMATION AMONG THE MOST GLORIOUS AND LIVELY
EVER CREATED!” - The New York Times
Chief Restorationist: Garrett Gilchrist
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 Disney‘s film Aladdin, which proved to be its undoing. After over two decades of work, the film was taken away from Williams when he couldn’t 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.
Directed by Richard Williams
Screenplay by Richard Williams and Margaret French
Master animator Ken Harris
Produced by Imogen Sutton and Richard Williams
Using the tacks he carries around in his mouth as his expression will never not be a GENIUS move by design. It's so simple and cute
omg. i love tak design so much. in the first act he reminds me of a protagonist in a 1920's silent movie. then he becomes so heroic as the movie goes on and its so simple and every unanimated frame of him just looking so cool kills me! but i am glad it exist in some form.
I know right?? It also makes for hella goofy looking moments which i adore, I wish more animated media would take inspiration from this kind of thing and put their own take on it!
And how when the princess and Tac meet and have that little sequence their eyes are perfectly overlapped.
Its IS adorable!!! Onw thing that i noticed just now too is the wraps around his thumps, probably on how many times he hits them with a hammer, for some reason i just think ots so genius to put those little details that some people could miss, but the creator wont!!
Used to be carpenters would carry nails in their mouth. Older carpenters often had chipped teeth as a result. Yeah, not so smart but workmen do what they do.
find someone who’s as loyal to you as those flies are to the thief
They din even go ad far as a few feet. I want that :(
Those flies were driving him crazy. So much for his trip to Disneyland.
Faithful fleas=fleaful
What about the thief’s shoe during that end scene
🤣🤣🤣
Tack's voice was way deeper than I expected
Eh, that’s because of its original dub. The Miramax Cut had Matthew Broderick as Tack and Jennifer Beals as Princess Yum Yum
Fun fact: Originally Williams was going to have of all people Sean Connery to voice Tack, but he never showed up to record it for whatever reason, so instead a friend of Williams wife had voiced him.
i feel like a higher voice would suit him idk
bro, I died when I heard Tacks voice like-
Riiiight¿¿ I tought it was gonna be a more younger Voice like aladin or something 😭
For a king that's so seemingly lazy, tired, paranoid and unfit to be a ruler... He definitely shows his true worthiness when he refuses to hand over his own daughter to an offer that might've saved the entire city.
Right!! I was so happy they for once didn't go for the incompetent father trope, he was a well rounded character!!
I like this version. In the movie we have currently, he saw it as more of a light joke than a serious use of blackmail
Right! Like he actually did care about her
He is a bad king, but a good father
Just like how Odin of the Mcu is a good king, but a bad father
Character? Sure. Worthiness as king, protector of his peoples? Absolutely not. That's the opposite of what that looks like. Kings have sold daughters (and sons) for a few hundred head of cattle. Good guy. Terrible king.
I love how in the final scene with Tack and the Thief scrapping for the golden balls, after all we have seen of the Thief, we know he is so dedicated to his art he will put himself in harm’s way just to ATTEMPT to steal anything he finds attractive, never giving up. But in said final scene we get a curve ball with the Thief basically saying “Forget it, I almost died like a billion times in one day, I’m out of here.”
I think this scene was saying that he doesn't see a point fighting Tack
He knows him from the start, he saw him get arrested, saved, arrested again, escape, he saw him travel with the Princess and fight when needed, then at last he saw Tack destroy an entire army basically without a scratch
Thief ignores the huge dangers that are in the way, but Tack is not a huge danger, hes an inescapable one
Thief knows that no matter what happens Tack WILL win so theres no point to fight anymore
I kinda interpreted it as he didn't want to send Tack to a v pointy death. Which I mean... Idk really wtf being confronted with the same dude he already stole from would give up in any case but hey that's showbiz
I saw it as him recognizing that he had already failed to grab his prize. He saw Tack was willing to fight for the balls and thought: "Ah screw it, I'm a thief, not a mugger."
Everytime I see zigzag doing something I do I’m always amazed at my ability to cringe and cackle simultaneously. Especially him laughing at the city for sleeping. Amazing I’m not the only one.
@@tpockett3676To be honest, I can interpret this as the Thief realizing that he is fighting the Sword of Allah, who appeared before him in the form of the shoemaker. Knowing that I would be punished for all my sins with the Sword of the Lord, I would also decide to retreat. It's the same thing with the Thief.
The worst part about this is that it looked almost finished. If Richard Williams was less of a perfectionist, he could have completed his masterpiece before he died.
If he was less of a perfectionist it wouldn't have looked this impressive.
@@cheezemonkeyeater I mean he fired people at the random for very minor slip ups so- eh no not really
@@throwawayaccount570 Disney did the same, in fact, a lot of major animation studios are like that, in anime, since Tezuka. Animation is very expensive even now, back then, having to redo a whole take for a mistake was a lot of time, effort and money in the trash. Besides, most companies were still looking at animation as a sub genre for children, and the perfectionsit of the time paved the way by showing just how impressive the art could be if you cared for it as much as you cared for other projects (and this extends to directors, actors and such, less than a perfected vision is not goo, and I, personally, prefer that.)
@@moonmochi6131 Yeah, but Disney had more money to burn and being the all mighty big company that it is. Production for these types of projects are just well...hell for everyone involved.
@@throwawayaccount570 Uhm, actually no, most of this behavior came before they grew really big, in fact it is stated that in Disney's beginning with Oswald it was the same, a perfectionist to core, part of what caused stress with his ex partner. And Disney faced many bankruptcies and it was, in fact, the way he held the animation department what helped a lot lol Is interesting to know the early stories of any company. Every production is hell, but these in particular was hard, and the studio that got it was more an issue than the perfectionist.
The old lady pulling out these hunk arms and absolutely squashing the thief like a bug will never NOT be funny to me💀🤣🤣🤣
She just rekt him and walked away like nothing happened. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Trying to steal from grandma be like
*granny voice* "Im about to school ya sorry ass, sonny boi"
@@blackheartthedarklord6428 you only take grandma’s money when grandma gives it to you
@@GrinkMode learned that the hard way and I was framed in the first place.
The Thief basically has the same character complex as Scrat from Ice Age and I’m here for it 😂
He reminded me of a looney toons character and I loved it!
@@cashwalk7253 unlike looney tunes character. He is a force of nature that drives the plot. Like scrat form ice age
Exactly what I thought
One wants nuts, this one wants balls
I was literally thinking: "He's like Scrat, but funnier."
43:22 my boy just stole a necklace from himself and celebrated like he's not a dumbass. I love him
Thats not a necklace its prayer beads
😂😂
He is an icon, he is a legend, he is the moment
💀☠️
@@patrickofearthhe is slaying
People bring attention to Tack's skin color change/tan halfway through the movie, and what it represents for his character arc. I've noticed number of subtle changes about him throughout. Not unlike Aladdin, he starts off as the most insignificant kind of person in the kingdom, on the same level as the thief. They're a pair of nobodies. Like the thief, he has no voice in the movie, and maybe that could be interpreted in that poor have no say in society, especially in old world monarchies. His skin being paper white not only shows how little sun he gets, but makes him look more cartoonish and pay better with the background, especially during the montage with the thief at 18 minutes in. He's adorkable and clumsy, as well as shy. This all makes for enjoyable animation, but also gives us a huge contrast to Yum Yum. She's graceful becuz princess, sure. But she's also very colorful, and the two contrast on screen in a poignant way.
He yanks a tack out of his mouth at the climax, and even though he did this earlier to unlock the shackle, you actually get to see the shape of his real mouth for the first time here. IDK why this hits as so significant. It feels like this is the point at which not a nobody anymore. Maybe the tack saved their asses, but it also kept his mouth closed. Later during their wedding is the first time he speaks, and between the tan and the robes and seeing his mouth, he looks like a character whose undergone an actual transformation. He went from mute and cartoony and not taken seriously to heard, and a touch more realistic. Meanwhile the thief is just... there. Vibing Looney Tunes style. lol.
This movie's been analyzed to hell and back already, but for someone just checking it out for the first time since the Nostalgia Critic review way back when, that's my two cents.
Maybe he got a tan walking through the desert?
Gotta give the Cobbler kudos for keeping those nails in his mouth the entire time
Not nails, tacks!
his mouth has excellent control
@@msk-qp6fn Princess Yum-Yum knew what she was doing when picking a man who demonstrated such excellent mouth control.
@@northrupthebandgeek hol up
Yes I agree she has wonderful picked the man with the finest mouth muscles in all the land
I know the thief took up a lot of unnecessary screentime but he's such a pleasure to watch. He felt more like a force of nature than an individual character. I love seeing the sheer dedication to stealing even if it's directly harming him. My favorite one is where he's trying to get the emerald out of the bottle and even after the guards show up he's still unwilling to let go of it.
yeah, he truly is just a force of nature that keeps moving the plot forwards
The thief literally steals the show. (No pun intended)
i think the jar he was taking from is called a 'monkey trap' except repurposed for thieves. in place of the fruit is a beautiful gem
It may have been unnecessary but my word he is hilarious. Every scene with him in it has incredible comedy that left me cackling. The thief is like a straight up loony tunes character
Scrat from Ice Age Mark 0.5 :)
I cant get over how skrunkly Tack is and how damn fluid his animation is all the time, its so fun!
So Scrimblo
I mean… skrunkly is… a surprisingly apt description of Tack
He's just a little yoinky sploinky
i hope everyone apart of this conversation good will love all yall
Hes adorable💞💞💞
I love the detail of Tack being more tan when they’re in the desert
Yeah he gets REALLY tan
ye he like is reverse whitewashed through the course of the movie
@@aidenWebber-nm7qj blackwashing 🌚
@@Golemoid nah i get the same way. if i stay inside too long im pale as a ghost, but the moment im outside im darker than charcoal
@@sarahfisher2171indeed, pale people can tan from sun expossure, in my case i go tomato red and tan in the long run but well😂
this is so trippy and beautiful all at once. This was 100% made out of passion and love.
@@samiam2003 it makes sense but not logically speaking.
My man the thief just stole the entire universe
He's the most powerful being in existence
That's why the movie wasn't completed smh smh
The scene in End Game where Thanos goes to snap but the stones are gone, cut to the Thief with the Iron Gauntlet and the stones LOL
He really did steal the show
Fr
allegory for disney
“Hey Tack, are you okay with putting your life on the line to save all of humanity?”
Tack: *shrug*
Alternately:
Tack: (removes the tacks from his mouth and stares into the camera) "If the shoe fits."
"save all humanity"
Yeah right, I don't think the one eyes would make massive warships and sail to the Americas in hopes of ruling the world let alone anywhere outside the middle east
The original Saitama from One Punch Man.
Whoa wasn’t expecting Tack’s voice to be so deep! That’s how you do a silent character for sure!
1:35:02 he is dubbed by freaking Sean Connery like wtf
@@aya-chan4784 idk that was a real surprise to me when I looked up who voiced him!
His voice is like a jumpscare
Actually, not using ur voice for a prolonged period of time can result in a ower pitch (temporarily)
"As if the earth itself spoke" lmao. That threw me off for sure.
This film has just dramatically changed the way I view 2d animated films. Seeing the unfinished frames in between scenes compared to the fully animated ones made me really see the amount of effort and passion put into this film. The amount of detail in singular character designs and how smooth they look really convinced me that the animator just loved drawing them. That is just so inspiring to me. I think every animation student should see this film because it is just such an amazing representation of 2d animation. It's truly a masterpiece.
HOW did this not turn into an instant cult classic? It's absolute, utter brilliance! Hilarious, original, creative and beautifully animated, this film deserves all the kudos. So glad I found this - completely by accident.
Because of the curse that befell the production of this movie… The curse of perfection. “Enough is never enough” until it must be finished. But by then it is far too late.
What you just saw took 30 years. Disney gave ultimatum till 93 or 92 to finish the movie and when it wasn’t finished they shut down the production. Year later they released Aladin. Miramax also released a watered down but finished version of this movie, its called arabian knights.
Unfortunately it was never finished, thus having no complete product to become a cult classic. But in honor of Richard Williams, it's still being studied and stitched together to this day to make it so.
You know, I remember watching this when I was very little on t.v. In the late 90’s so It was shown on t.v. I think for a bit..
@@emberlight799 The same unique combination of genius and madness that we are now seeing with Star Citizen. Williams shouldn't have been so obsessed with perfection, the film was SO CLOSE to being complete, he could have easily finished his masterpiece had he not been a tyrant and fired animators for minor mistakes. He simply was not satisfied with great or even exquisite, when you will only accept sheer perfection you will never see an end.
Has anyone ever noticed how cute the cobbler is?
My boys all grown up I felt like a proud parent😭
his character design is pretty damn amazing
The princess did
I always thought he was adorable 🥰
@@ilicia_08 literally so adorable
The fact this is still being restored and hasn't been abandoned is inspiring.
It truly is
Congratulations, I gave you a 1000th like!
Every time they said “Balls” in the movie:
2:58 (Golden balls)
3:05 (Hyped balls)
24:36 (Menacing balls)
33:57 (Assured balls)
34:24 (Scared balls)
35:45 (Hurried balls)
41:08 (Sussy balls)
41:16 (Planned balls)
42:17 (THE BALLS ARE GONE 😭)
42:53 (Important balls)
47:37 (Evil balls)
47:52 (He hasn’t found the balls 😢)
48:28 (Mystical balls)
49:22 (Angry balls)
49:53 (Whispered balls)
59:22 (Admired balls)
1:13:15 (Rudely interrupted balls)
Bonus:
21:32 (PLAY BALL!)
Thank you
Why?
@@victoredwardo9485 because balls
@@victoredwardo9485 because golden balls
@@victoredwardo9485 balls
Can we all appreciate that despite the kingdom being on the edge of destruction, the King was absolutely unwilling to force his daughter into a loveless marriage?
Sure he told his daughter to go on this quest, but she did insist that she could do it. It even seemed like he was scared to send her, too. Who knows, maybe he would have changed his mind against her going last second if Tack hadn't agreed to go.
At least he's a better father than a lot of fairy tales out there despite his habit of being lazy.
EDIT: I also love that unlike in the awful remake version, they made Princess YumYum here strong in more ways that just being fast or strong like a man would. She was strong in terms of diplomacy and quick thinking, like when she persuaded the group of vagabonds to be her guard. Sure they weren't that smart, but the fact that she could disarm them with just words says a lot about her character as a future ruler.
The Calvert versions really do a disservice to the characters. By comparison, Nod makes it very clear here, in no uncertain terms, that Zigzag will not marry Yum Yum, and Yum Yum gets to be a stronger character in general.
She wakes up her sleeping father when zig zag & company come in, putting the conversation back on track by asking what tack was doing there, being actually fair when her half asleep was just going to kill him & breaking her shoe to give tack more time. Alot in one scene was better than the song "She is more than this" for the most part.
My point exactly! Once again it was shown without words (or a contrived song in that case) that she was wise beyond her years, but also nurturing.
Don't get me wrong I actually love Disney songs talking about a character's thoughts, but the difference there is they moved the plot along rather than stopping the whole show and spelling everything out to the audience.
Not to mention with Tack's gentle but brave heart I'm sure they go on to be great rulers. @@unknownfuturebutthatsok7207
@@TheThiefArchive Yes! For once, he actually cares about his daughter, and also for once, she's a capable leader in her own right.
....Although the Mombassa girl scenes were pretty gross, though. Kinda wish that wasn't in the film, but it is, so we just have to accept it and use it as an example.
I lost it, when the thief got his fake hands cut off and acting dramatic for a second and then just walking off without care :D
That was so hilarious I laughed so loud 😂
For a long time, I felt bad for Williams for having his life's work taken away from him and being unable to finish it. But I have come to realize that for him, finishing was never really the point. For him, the whole point was the act of creation and animation. He genuinely and simply enjoyed the process of animating, and The Thief and the Cobbler was, for him, a vehicle to animate. I think he died with no regrets. He spent his entire life dedicated to the act of doing the thing he loved. It is, to my mind, absolutely the most enviable quality in a person, because I do not think the vast majority of us will ever get that out of life.
I don't know. It can't have felt good to have your magnum ops you'd been workin on for decades turned into a freebie in every packet of Fruit Loops.
Williams got mad at people he worked with over all kinds of things that were probably relatively inconsequential to the unassuming viewer. Imagine how livid he must have been with what done to the Thief and The Cobbler after it was seized.
It's the same case as with Yuri Norstein - there's obviously a talent, maddening talent. And for the same reason, there's end goal two steps over horizon. Unreachable.
The biggest deal with doing art to own line of perfection is that there's always something to be redone, fixed, done better, reimagined. The longer the process goes, the bigger differences between beginning and late phase would be. So called "free hand" in work for many is curse worse than censor or executive demanding and setting up deadlines, budget cuts and such.
For example in case of Thief and Cobbler even in the opening the hand drawn sequence of royal court must have taken months to just get clean "rough". But it didn't add value, and it had no function other than masturbating how good certain animators could render super demanding shot like that. And for nothing.
There's obviously issues with resource and goal management. And that sequence isn't even finished despite being so early in the script - another major issues due to no proper management and direction.
This animation is one of the best one's I've seen no doubt, but script is really average, and it's not finished. That's the real tragedy here.
That's not a quality of a person, that's a human right that's been made into a privilege
I have serious doubts as to whether or not he'd have ever finished it. The number of changes he made over the decades are staggering and let's be fair here: no studio would've continued to humor such a large investment without seeing a return.
I don't think being able to do what you love is impossible. A lot of things occur in life, but there are, of course, moments of peace.
when he gets his “hands” cut off and he waddles off IS THE FUNNIEST THING EVER
And then he waddled away
@@elclipsestudio5602 Waddle, waddle
@@SpookiSandwich he just wanted some grapes! 😭
@@WxIxLxLxIxAxMxSmore like some big ass golden balls
@@SpookiSandwichTo the very next day bum bum bum bum bum badam
I love how skrunkly Tack is. I want to hug him so bad
but his voice caught me SO off guard at the end there. HOH LAWD
I also love how at the end this boy is darker than me and I'm black 😂. I know why they did that and I love seeing a brown skin princess but I always thought it was funny
@@lenafoxy7674 bro became lightskin 😭
@@lenafoxy7674 he had darker skin because he was spending time in the desert.
His voice at the end was the most mind-blowing part of this film.
LITERALLY I WAS CAUGHT SO OFF GUARD THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE MOVIE I WAS LIKE "aww hes so cute" AND HE HIT ME WITH THAT VOICE 💀
I'm surprised I see no one talk about it but the part at 1:16:36 where the king yells "My daughter, my daughter, oh my god my child... help me to help her" as he turns around to the young child curious as to why he's crying was so... poignant. Idk. Like he was asking everyone so desperately even the child, and with the war going on. Or that's how alone he thinks his daughter feels. Idk it just was so deep to me!
It was a powerful scene
It's good voice acting!
And the kid begins to offer him a duckie right before the scene cuts
the ducky will help @@kindredmaki8108
Fun thing i noticed while watching this again, after a year: at 0:03:36, while speaking about the prophecy and how the city would be saved by “the simplest of things” the man’s hands form a tack shape over the ball. AUGH THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL!! Love this film to bits
OMG
She thought he was a hunk before, then he spoke and she realized she hit the jackpot
*tackpot
@@WxIxLxLxIxAxMxS This is THE comment ever, thank you
1:31:03 Bros so calm being eaten by his own pets but screeched at the top of his lungs when a tack pricks his foot 😭
There are a couple of moments I've related scenes in this to scenes stolen into Disney films. Disney sure stole his golden opportunity.
screaming after stepping on a tack is funny. screaming while being eaten alive is nightmare fuel lol
It's really sad this couldn't be finished. While some parts of the story are slow, the animation is a work of art. Maybe one day, new artists will come together and animate the unfinished parts. Of course it's not needed, but it'd be really cool to see. The end battle was super cool. So much attention to detail with the fire and bits of wood flying everywhere.
I wish I could though do to how complex this entire movies animation seems to be it is beyond my current abilities if I was able to and thought I could keep the quality of the animation just as good as Williams I would in a heart beat this movie deserved so much more better
Probably not. Some fans might be able to using AI tho.
@@Rig0r_M0rtis with animation as intricate and as beautiful as this you are a fool to even suggest that AI can help
@@xooplord you are a fool go look at what AI art looks like, it's great at replicating a style
I think if Disney took a turn on this and either made it into an animation, or real life film it would be a surreal experience for children and adults that have watched this.
55:22-55:40 I love how Yumyum and the Nurse aren’t mad about almost being mugged, they’re just really disappointed in the brigands for how they did it.
Uncle Iroh moment
i love 2D animation and will always prefer it. look how beautiful and smooth it is, and the way u can make the characters look has no limits. the art style has no limits. this is one of the best animations i’ve ever seen of 2D and it’s a shame how today we don’t see more of this
I wish big animation studios like Disney and DreamWorks returned to 2D animation
Important to note this is cel animation. This is what people refer to when they say returning to (usually). Digital 2D is still plentiful.
Tack changed from pale in the beginning of the movie, to dark-skinned at the end. I could never tell if that was due to the movie's incompleteness, or actually intentional since cobblers usually worked indoors with no sun, and he gradually tanned from travelling through the desert.
He gets tanned in the sun. I don't understand why people don't "get" this simple plot point, apart from the fact that it's mis-animated in one shot in Arabian Knight, and therefore happens too early.
@@TheThiefArchive I don't think I've ever seen that kind of situation play out in American animation before 🤔 I've seen it in Anime before but I think it's just so uncommon that people end up thinking it's a mistake 🤷
It may also indicate before the thief tack was always indoors for some reasons
It was intentional. He worked a lot so he didn't get that much sun. When he went into the desert with the princess he got a tan hope this helps 😊
@@TheThiefArchive ...It takes time to be tanned.
zigzag's demise is legitimately one of the most horrifying things i've seen in an animated film in this vein
like legitimately wtf is that? and how the video quality cuts real bad after the chomp-- it just makes it so much more surreal and terrifying. wtf fido
He was hungry man
@@lespyguy he unhinged his jaw 180 degrees and grew teeth what do you mean he was just hungry
bro fido was housing an eldritch demon in his vessel
Right!?
The way he basically says "they've eaten my legs!!" Is horrifying
Fido a real one
Where is that?
For anybody wondering this is the same fan restoration of the recobbed cut mark 4 from the 2013 the only difference being it’s all in one video because there were in different parts on TH-cam god bless your amazing work on this restoration Garrett
The camel having a laughing fit after the thief falls in the water will forever continue to be unchallengable humor 10/10
In a different universe, this could have been the greatest animated movie of all time...
Perhaps it would be comparable in effort to Professor Tolkien.
The thief is honestly the best character in this film, comedic relief plus being the most active character? Perfect combination, truely.
He was a time waster.
I love him he’s a little trash boy
He's got the vibe of Scrat from the Ice Age movies
i saw the version where he talked anf it was so damn funny he even said "sike"
@@BluZombie Omg yass
the ending where the thief just gives up on the balls is so brilliant I had to pause it. he has been the most active character in this movie and he just gives up. brilliant use of comedy.
this hole movie is a beautiful love letter to classic films. both animated and live action. the silent characters. the fantasy setting it is so gorgeous and creative I love this movie. thank you for doing this you do some incredible work.
I agree!! I was wondering how far he'd go for them and then to just throw in the towel at the end? Best. Ending. Ever.
Not only is it hilarious, but it is such a satisfying conclusion because he’s the character that sets everything in motion. The Thief literally starts the story, so he was the one to also end it. It’s no wonder his name is in the beginning of the title; he is the main character, and the Cobbler was just along for the ride.
Whole* but I agree
Damn, they really animated the king getting some action during a ball game.
Timestamp?
huh?
@@dannyfain3961 21:00 💀💀 There you go
@@joseyphipps
i don't understand
@@joseyphipps I never noticed that lol, its also pretty obvious at 15:08
1:21:49 That whole end sequence of the thief almost being brutally killed over and over yet not even reacting because he's so focused on the balls is some of the best slap-stick humor I've seen in a long time. XD
God, this animation is so beautiful.
Every time I watch this film, I always think to myself that people drew this frame by frame.
There’s something so timeless about this type of animation.
No algorithms, no CGI, just pure art and talent.
Ya veo🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
56:18 imagine how difficult this was to animate, the detail of the clothing and the flag shaking around cause of the wind. pure talent, love this scene
I mean this movie took 30 yrs to make and still isnt finished. The director is too much of a perfectionist
@@samiam2003 1964 - 1995.
What's more is that it's only the second most longest film to make. First one goes to Overcoats which takes 40 years to make
Oh No It's Just a Guy
@@diollinebranderson6553that's why it turned out that well
3:34 just noticed that the gap in his fingers shows the shape of a tack. Interesting detail!
Speaking of Tack. He's got to be one of my favorite animated characters of all time.
Also Zig Zag has 6 fingers on each hand. Strange.
An interesting detail indeed. Likely to evoke the "devils number" 6, or perhaps referencing old mythology about people with 6 fingers being evil or corrupted in some way. unsettling if nothing else!
56:54 I so so badly wish that there was an HD transfer of this shot because this is the most insane piece of cel animation I've ever seen and I need to scrub through frame by frame to see exactly how they pulled it off
glad to know I wasn't the only one looking frame by frame and corner by corner
With the well fitted music? SO MESMERIZING!
Si sabes español, aquí va cómo se rodó esa escena: 1) Se animó el travelling hacia atrás, desde el ojo de Zig Zag hasta el plano entero. Después esa imagen queda fija, y 2) se roda en cámara truca con un fondo estereoscópico de perspectiva curva, que se asemeja a un diorama aunque es plano y te engaña, haciendo un TRUCK.BACK con la cámara. En ese fondo rodado con TRUCK es donde están ahora las bailarinas (IN), que están animadas y se mueven en 1s, la cámara hace un FIX del TRUCK en un plano final de bailarinas, donde hay un IN de los bordes del ojo de One Eye; 3) El borde del ojo rojo de One Eye introduce el tercer nivel de animación, y finaliza el TRUCK.
Here is how that scene was shot: 1) The tracking shot was animated backwards, from Zig Zag's eye to the entire shot. Then that image is fixed, and 2) it is shot on a truck camera with a stereoscopic background with a curved perspective, which resembles a diorama although it is flat, doing a TRUCK.BACK with the camera. In that background shot with TRUCK is where the dancers are now (IN), which are animated and move in 1s, the camera does a FIX of the TRUCK in a final shot of dancers, where there is an IN of the edges of One's Eye eye; 3) One Eye's red eye enters the third level of animation, and the TRUCK ends.
@@alberijh hola, muchas gracias por explicar en español, sabes dónde puedo ver el detrás de camaras de todo los procesos en español o mínimo subtitulada?
🤔
SALUDOS.
@@djmarsone5209 Hola, de nada. Lamentablemente no hay making off de esta película, por la sencilla razón de que nunca se estrenó. Lo que escribí proviene de fuentes no audiovisuales, y de lo que sí estaba en audiovisual, ya no está en línea. Hace mucho que me dedico a estudiar los procedimientos en este film y cómo pudieron realizarse sin computadoras.
I love that when asked for his daughter yum yum the father just yells GET OUTT NEVER EVERRR. Good father moment.
The number of sequences that look completely impossible to have been animated by hand is staggering. And although the goal seems to have been to make everything over the top and then push it even further, there are also many small, quiet details that win me over. By the last quarter the story finally gets going, too. This would never have been a successful movie even if completed as Williams intended, but it's probably the most beautiful display of the art of animation for its own sake ever made. I'm very grateful for this restoration.
scrolled through some of the comments and am surprised to see how no one has mentioned the artistry of the layout of the palace! i loved how they played with perspective and illusions, how the cobbler and zigzag barely miss each other on the stairwell, the thief and the cobbler chasing each other and dealing with the terrain, i loved how what first looked like flat floor turned into a pit!
some timestamps of those moments: 49:15 18:10
Imagine the time it took to draw and colour all those squares!
29:13 love the detail of Yum Yum purposely breaking her other shoes too to have her cobbler with her all the time from the start :>
I couldn't even tell that's what was happening until I read your comment after watching the movie.
Which also made me wonder who made her shoes in the first place.
@@Shenorai my great grandfather did
You blind?
@@rosabscura?
I honestly think this truly is a masterpiece. I’m ashamed that Disney butchered it and left it for dead and long forgotten.
Not forgotten. We're here.
I mean Disney isn't exactly at fault here cause this project kept taking their money and missing the deadline they had, it's not like they woke up one day and decided they felt like butchering a film
About half of this is animated by another guy. Williams finished about half. Williams was a nut.
Warner Bros, not Disney
@@Double-R-Nothing my bad :/
1:01:55 This is the funniest scene in the movie for me. Vincent Price’s voice acting, the dramatic music, the dialogue itself and Zigzag’s expressions are what make this scene so unabashedly hilarious.
The detail for how Tack vs how Zigzag pictured YumYum is sick. At 19:55 Tack pictured her face in full detail with various emotions, while at 1:13:04 Zigzag just pictured the general outline of her body with no real details and no face or expression. Because Zigzag sees her as a hot object he can use, while Tack loves her and sees her as her own person. Just thought it was a cool parallel.
And to think the cobbler only used 5% of his power.
User stand: cobbler
Stand: Thief....... 😂
@@djmarsone5209 lmao
He threw people multiple times in the movie
My favorite part was when The cobbler waltzed in and said, "ITS COBBLIN' TIME"
And then he cobbled all over those guys
This wins the comment section.
@@PrinceOctober3579 The climax of the movie is 20 minutes of the one eyes getting totally cobbled
the sense of humor of this generation will never cease to baffle me
@@FinnMcCoolOfficialWe grew up with the internet where everything was haha funny random so now that’s just what’s funny to us. Granted this is a play on words.
My cat seems to be a big fan of this movie. He’s ten and I’ve never seen him more concentrated on a screen in my life. He loves the thief (you can guess why). He gets all excited when he sees him and sits closer to the screen.
Aw
Just like me fr
Perhaps all of the movement and colour is super stimulating
This is the cutest thing ever
That's so cute to hear!
This is the greatest unfinished movie of all time. I don't care what anyone says, this movie is better than Aladdin ten fold. The soundtrack is great and iconic (to people who watched it), the animation-HOLY FUCKING SHIT BALLS. I BEGGED my Animation teacher to show this film, or even watch it. It is peak, hell, the animation is a damn work of fucking art. Every scene has something to admire, to the colors, the acting, to just normal simple movements that are made with such perfection, it's no wonder the movie never got made. Am I sad about it? Damn right! This movie would have been revolutionary, hell, it would set standards no one would ever match to this day. I can think maybe a couple movies that I say in such high regard, like Prince of Egypt, but this movie has everything to learn from. If you're an animator, watch this film RIGHT NOW. It will blow your fucking mind.
Agree with everything you said. Also, so you're an animator? That's cool
I'm not even close to animation and films like pinocchio blows my mind
@@gdassspar6nar What the fuck are you talking about
泥棒が最後のENDまで盗むのめちゃくちゃ好き！！面白すぎるこんなアニメあったの知らなかった！！日本語訳無いから少しずつ翻訳しながらもう1回見たい！！靴屋が最後言葉を話すのもめちゃくちゃ良い！！
More than 3 decades worth of craftsmanship. Even in its incomplete form, the artistry is there.
To be fair to the suits: this is a very niche film in its original incarnation. Don't get me wrong, it's a joy to look at. It specifically appeals to other artists, and fans of animation as a medium (i.e. myself). Its biggest flaw is a total lack of restraint. The sequence of the war machine being destroyed begins at 1:20:54, and is intercut for the next eleven minutes, for example. Many other sequences are similarly over-elongated, where Richard just seems to get lost in the scene for a spell and loses track of the fact that he's supposed to be telling a story, and said story suffers as a result. Incredible artistry for what is a pretty ramshackle film.
While it's a shame that Williams never got to realize his complete vision, it's not hard to see why audiences and those at the top just couldn't dig it. Even if it was completed as planned, it would've been released at a massive loss to all those invested in the production. It's unfortunate that pure passion doesn't generate revenue. If it did, we'd get to view this as the most successful film of all time.
EDIT: To be fair to Mr. Williams, this cut of the movie is by no means 100% complete, or necessarily fully accurate to his vision. I've done some reading since I penned this comment, and the amount of cut story content is surprising. Who knows what Richard would've done if he'd had the time and resources to truly complete the film. Please don't interpret this comment as just bashing the movie, or disrespecting Mr. Williams.
I've said this very thing for years; the animation is lush and extravagant and from a purely visual standpoint, the film is nothing short but spellbinding. But it has no restraint and no overall vision. It lacks direction. Williams is a gifted animator but he is a substandard film-maker. It stays too long on some things, interrupts others, and is everywhere and nowhere at all in the same and the pacing suffers as a result.
This was something animators, animation enthusiasts, and art school types would love and would have been considered, as it is now even in this current state, a "cult classic" even if Williams had got all the money the world to finish the film. Having said that, I am among that crowd and would still love to see this film remastered with all the gaps fully animated and placed in. More than that, the abhorrent audio mixing that's been the bane of all the versions of the Re-Cobbled Cut would finally be fixed. Williams always wanted to use "Scheherazade" by Rimsky-Korsakov but it really needs to be adapted to the film better, on top of tying the incidental music in-between to suit the motifs pulled from it (don't even start with the quality of the foley effects). I completely sympathize with the decision that the producers came to when they realized they needed to try and make a cohesive film from this, and still believe that if the film were ever to be fully restored and remastered, a good editor still needs to come in and rearrange the film to make it stronger.
This movie was a beautiful mess from its conception. Beautiful, no doubt, but a greater emphasis on "mess."
@@PoopaPapaPalpatine I feel like it truly is gorgeous, and I'm thrilled with being able to see the recobbled cut, but I must agree that the pacing and story really suffer from just how much it sometimes shows off the animation. I feel like there were scenes that just went on far too long.
There's a lot that's really great about this! There's also a lot I think definitely wouldn't fly with today's audiences. I feel like we spent so much time on the animation that could have gone towards maybe getting to see our main characters interact more and build up relationships.
That being said, there's a lot that is told just through the visuals. Tak's kindness being shown by his treatment of the mouse for one. But I started getting straight up bored of just watching the giant war machine be destroyed or the thief's shenanigans trying to steal various things.
I'm glad I saw this and if it were truly ever fully finished and released, I'd be thrilled to see it again! But I think the animation itself so far outweighs the story when I was looking for more.
Like you said - a beautiful mess.
i think it's meant to be like a greek or roman epic. the story is slow to invoke a grandiose feel, like all the slow and seemingly meaningless parts of, say, the Iliad. its meant to give a grand sense of scale. granted, the payoff for all that sluggishness could've been way better
Yeah, while this is a gorgeous work, it isn't that well suited to an average audience. There is little plot, little dialogue, some things which are very important to the plot are only explained once and so can be easily forgotten, the characters aren't too strong except for the grand vizier.
And even some of the artistic choices would be pretty jarring to the average movie-goer. The choice to draw tiles without accounting for distance, looks stunning and unique, but is visually confusing and makes some scenes cluttered.
@@jameskowanko7574 exactly. As a coherent ’film’ it’s fairly bad, but as a study of animation & passion, it’s phenomenal
I love the fact that Williams made the thief just as much chosen by fate as tack. The golden balls wouldn’t have been stolen or come back with out him.
I like that the King already believed Yum Yum could handle the quest in this version instead of her having to stress that she could.
Let’s admire Richard Williams use of illusion throughout the film. Adds such a trippy and fun touch!
1:31:17 the quality shift and the crunch is down right horrifying!
yep I couldn't but.feel sorry for zigzag and also disgusted
Went full Suicide Mouse for a hot second
Looks like found footage
Phido (Fido?) finally got to eat!
If only the quality was higher
58:37
Richard Williams: "I have power over Animation....though it may _appear_ complex."
*Dramatic music as he flips through an impressive sketch flipbook*
"For meeeee, frames fall, like playing cards- *and IIIII control the DECKS!"*
*loses control of his finances, his studio employees, and his life's work*
"WRAAAH!"
This is the best comment in this comment section, and possibly the funniest thing I've read in months
💀
Oh, you're so evil 🤣🤣🤣
38:36 What an absolute boss. That expression never gets old.
Also, the witch's scene is just legendary. I love how Tack is like "can we not do this?" when she approaches him. And, when he's asked about how he feels about the whole thing, he's like "I don't know. I just came here as a guide"
Lmaoo frr!! Bro really said “ 🤷♂️”
"I see no god up here. Other than me."
47:30 _”Now that I have the balls, I shall go see the king.”_
God the animation flow on this movie is unbelievable.
It's always a shame when a creator is unable to finish their magnum opus, but I appreciate what we were still able to get.
Happens too often
Yall had no right to make the cobbler sound that fucking hot. Aint no way
Not just sound, either. By the end of the movie my dude Tack is fuckin' *yoked*.
When you see his arms and pectorals you realise how he was able to toss the thief over his head
@@northrupthebandgeek LOL YOKED 💀
Considering how strong tac is- in spirit and body I actually thought the voice was quite fitting. It's deep and powerful, like tac.
I used to rent this movie over and over as a kid. I’m loving this more silent version. The expressions are more than enough to tell us what’s happening rather than dialogue. It’s also amazing to see extra footage no matter what degree of complete it is! Chef’s kiss!
Wait so did you watch the finished version or was it still unfinished animation?
The one that you watched was by mymax, a disney owned company Roger Williams had created the og film, one of the animators he had fired had went to disney and then they got their hands on the footage (somehow) and had rushed through it to finish it and had changed the voice actors for characters and added music cause it's disney and had needed up rushing theiughaWHOLE ENTIRE FINISHED FILM and steal it, from Roger Williams
all the praises possible to this movie but a huge thak you to the recobbled team , especially with the sound !
i thought it was all original music and sound effects until i heard "night on the bald montain" .
You brillantly stitched the movie back together !
There’s a lot of two dimensional representations in this work which surprised me since he was such a perfectionist
23:16 is one of the greatest uses of depth perception ever in animation
Transitioning fisheye to eagle eye
I'm so glad that Richard managed to animate that sequence at the end with the Thief and the three balls. Probably one of the best in the movie
I dont know why, but this brings warmth to my heart, like a child which just witnessed the greatest adventure of all time. The story maybe boring and basic, but not every movie has to invent the wheel. Nowadays, movies go for "mature" and complex concepts with cgi all over the place, when older movies were just to tell a story, with some beautiful handmade animation. Thank you Williams. Rest in peace.
Tack is downright precious lmao flawless character design
He's the best🥹🤧
Total shame that Richard didn't have access to something like patreon during his productive years, i would've totally helped fund this project!!! :(
The legal situation was more complicated than that, unfortunately. Richard did fund early development on the film with his own money prior to 1989. He continued to work on his own projects until his death.
@@TheThiefArchive good thing I finished my own things by hand since the movie system is too wicked and it hurt him, and all of us. i enjoyed this movie and it helped me as a artist. i had to be different and use whatever i had to finish stories I myself tried to get produced. working on new work still.
@@TheThiefArchive I have a question, how did Richard and his team manage to make a 2D animated movie move like it's in 3D?
@@mikekanike8765 they're masters of their craft. Having a full understanding of 3-dimensionality
@@mikekanike8765 Lots and lost of time and patience along with skill.
I remember watching this movie on Netflix or something with my brothers when I was really little. Crazy to see that there was never technically a finished project. I always remembered it as The Thief and The Cobbler, but I'm also seeing that it was called Arabian Knight or something. Super interesting.
The "Arabian Knight" edit of the film is also released on video as "The Thief and the Cobbler." It is not a good version of the film.
@@TheThiefArchive Good to know 😌
@@TheThiefArchive I honestly liked it (a little).
@@ur.local.st0ner The Arabian Knight version of this unfinished animation was created by Disney, and since Disney doesn’t like anything inappropriate, they cut a lot of scenes. Also since they didn’t think the animation was making it clear enough, they gave a voice to literally every silent character. Tack basically was a narrator that talked throughout the entire movie, which sadly makes the movie unwatchable in my opinion. For some reason the thief also narrates what he sees and what he thinks like tack. Even the BIRD talks about how hungry it is all of the damn time! All of the original voice actors where replaced so they don’t sound as good. Overall I didn’t like the version, but it is completely animated. The worst sin is that they cut out Zigzag’s musical introduction and replaced it with something basic. A lot of the music in the background got changed, and the worst thing is the plot is pretty different.
I forget which version was the musical one that had 4 songs in it (since there are 4 versions of this animation: the original, the fan recreation, the cheap-out, and the disney rewrite).
@@renoahsprings i think the musical version was the Fred Calvert version
Bro, the Thief has some CRAZY plot armor LMAO
Legends say the Thief still has the film to this day
1:07:51 super super impressive. i can feel the dedication and love put into this scene alone, the countless of hours they must have spent perfecting those movements. god, i love animation
I thought it was 3d at first!
I see much of this film appropriated by Disney into Aladdin, but the final battle sequence with the thief and one eye army gave me serious Lord of the Rings vibes (eye of Sauron, golem's obsession with his precious to his own peril, armies of Mordor, etc.) and i wonder if Richard Williams drew inspiration, even subconsciously, from it.
Richard was pitching his movie when they first started Who Framed Roger Rabbit. That's how he got the job as animation director and how Aladdin 'coincidentally' got some of its visuals.
@@headofcosmospictures1232 I'll have to look that up for myself, but after WFRR came out the British Animator mag (or was it Cinefex?) interviewed Williams and he mentioned that he took his reel to Disney. I can't remember if it was Spielberg who walked in, but someone was so wowed that this person begged him to sign on as animation director, and it was a deal made to get backing for TT&TC. I read it so many years ago, but it rattled around in my mind until the movie came out. Of course I was only reading Williams' version of events.
Ironically, I feel like Zigzag's design is similar to the Genie's...?
@@tgbluewolf like the Genie and Jafar had a baby. :p
@@kellywalker1664 N O P E! This movie and Richards pitch goes far back as the 1964! LITERALLY 24 YEARS before Disneys Aladdin would even start pre-production! Although to be fair, The first Lord of The Rings book would be released in 1954, 10 years before The Thief And The Cobbler would be thought of!
Was just gonna thumb through this, but I sat and watched the whole thing. Really stunning works of animation. The story was boring, but it was entertaining from beginning to end. I love how you very rarely see Tack's mouth, but can still understand what emotions he's feeling by the way the tack moves inside it.
The entire One-Eye "fight" scene was absolutely incredible and there's a simple comedy to the Thief's antics that is very fun and appealing. The way the music is set to sync up to certain mometns is great as well. I love "From the New World", so when it started playing, it helped engage me.
It was the same for me! I did not expect at all to watch the whole thing! But the animation was so fluid and visually stunning/engaging that I actually stayed!And the music choices were fun! I was enjoying Scheherazade every time the princess was on screen, Hall of the Mountain King (classic bad guy theme), and I laughed when Flight from Bald Mountain started when the thief first had his leaf wings and the US Air Force theme whenever he was flying haha😂 good use of classics.
@@sunnylilacs ironically, my orchestra is gonna play scheherazade and the hall of the mountain king pfft
scheherazade's music is so fun to play, especially in first violin
there’s something so satisfying about characters that seem indestructible like that and that just naturally dodge every death obstacle. the thief’s character was just so lovable
this is one of the most visually creative and complex pieces of animation ive seen in a while. shame it was never fully complete.
i did NOT expect Tack’s voice to be that low
As a beginning animator, this movie is my no.1 go to for motivation, inspiration, and reference. Words can't express the gratitude I have for Richard Williams.
I discovered this masterpiece in 2015, when I was still a teenager. I was so impressed by this animation that I had never seen anything like it at the time. But the history of this work is tragic. This gem of art should have attracted more attention than it did. Well, I can't help but say about the main villain - he's beautiful. Its design is extraordinary. He has flawless animation and voice. This is an interesting character
Thanks for letting me revisit this masterpiece. And sorry for my bad English :)
Your english is great, no need to apologize! Im a native speaker and i never would have noticed, your english is better than you give it credit for
Your english is better than many Americans' english and I am saying that as an American.
It's amazing to me. Even the unfinished sequences show such a refined attention to consistency in the art direction. Without any context, I would not believe this movie took as long to make as it did.
This is one of the most impressive projects I've ever seen, the impeccably drawn animation that took thirty years and the restoration
The final scenes with Tack give me such whiplash because of how different he looks from the beginning. Not even skin color-wise, just the overall shape of his head is less round and more angular, the lack of black lineart/eye bags around his eyes, his pointier nose, visible ears, and his hat got smaller. It’s like a different artist/animator did Tack’s design towards the end and put their own spin on it. I prefer the earlier design better, its more charming and unique with how “otherly” and “strange” he looked compared to everyone else around him.
Because that is the case. That last scene isnt part of the work done by richard williams.
What i like about this is how theres no obnoxious music in a lot of scenes, and when there is, it fits very well with its scene and isnt too overwhelming and dramatic
Truly one of the greatest animation tragedies was the loss of this piece. Thank you for your work
1:31:04
How to think like ZigZag:
❌ “AHHHH IM BEING EATEN ALIVE, I NEED TO STOP THEM NOW, WHAT DO I DO AHHHH”
✅ “Hmm, what would be a good rhyme for this situation? Oh, I know:”
I still remember seeing this film in segmented parts on TH-cam many moons ago (around 2015) and being blown away by some of the animation here - mostly just adding this comment in appreciation because yes, the commercially trashed version of this film does a tragic disservice to some amazing work here
As I see most already said:
Anyone notice how Yumyum has a *silly name*, an clearly girl=heart design and yet shows a lot of good character traits and actions furthering the plot.
Yes, she is partly focused on Tak, BUT WHO ISN'T?! Like come on, he cute and impressive and kind. Ya gotta have an eye on where did he go XD
Just love how all character actions here fluently fit in with one another, how we see so naturally her curiosity and sense of duty while maintaining poise to not be easily scared.
How the King shows clear care and worry for her throughout, is sleepy and sleezy when all is good but seemingly does a well enough job for those in his kingdom.
Every character is consistent in their goals, who/what they value and act upon it naturally and it all fits into this whole situation unfolding.
Even the "unnessecary" journey to the witch, they didn't know it was unnessecary, they found allys there and Tak got an affirmation that using what he has will be enough so he could go in and wing it like he always does without fear.
I just enjoy this.
7:40 I just about fell out of my chair when I saw this shot. This animation is superhuman.
i had heard of this before, thought it was bad due to the production mess and figured imma just sorta hate watch it on the side, but no, i actually really enjoyed this. the animation is great, the slapstick/visual gags made me laugh, the Escher-like visuals are trippy but they use them so well. a very artful movie. especially the end "fight" had me captivated. the music with the insanity of the situation and the visuals- it's amazing.
all the characters have so much personality. Tack and the thief are characterized so well despite being mute. i absolutely love how Tack's tacks are used as a mouthline for expressions; it's genious. he's my favourite character, but honestly, everyone's great.
This is the Recobbled version, it’s what Richard Williams envisioned for the original film. All the other versions of the film are the bad ones.