The Thief and the Cobbler

Canada, United Kingdom, United States

1993

72 Min

Color

2.35:1

English

Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
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PROD Imogen Sutton, Richard Williams

SCR Richard Williams, Margaret French

CAST Vincent Price, Anthony Quayle, Hilary Pritchard, Joan Sims, Windsor Davies, Felix Aylmer, Paul Matthews, Donald Pleasence, Miriam Margolyes, Sean Connery

ANIM Art Babbitt, Mannix Bennett, Joanna Billingham, Paul J. Bolger, Neil Boyle, Becky Bristow, David Byers Brown, Russell Calabrese, Kimie Calvert, Jesse Cosio, Jill Culton, Mimi Danly, Inge Daveloose, Denis Deegan, Gary Dunn, Sahin Ersöz, Steve Evangelatos, Sam Fleming, Frank Gabriel, Edison Goncalves, Margaret Grieve, Jurgen Gross, Alyson Hamilton, Karen Hansen, Ken Harris, Malcolm Harrison, Emery Hawkins, Joe Hawkins, Silvia Hoefnagels, Julia Iwasz, Kevin Johnson, Douglas Kirk, Dietmar Kremer, Holger Leihe, Natasha Liberman, Robert Malherbe, Lorraine Marue, David McCamley, Roy Meurin, Jean Morel, Mark Naisbitt, Bill Nunes, Kevin O’Hara, Kevin M. O’Neil, Brent Odell, Cynthia Overman, Ralf Palmer, Philip Pepper, Gary Perkovac, Dean Roberts, Michael Schlingmann, Alan Simpson, Alan Sperling, David Stephan, Sean Sullivan, Mike Swindall, Maryann Thomas, Sue Tong, Venelin Veltchev, Roger Vizard, Bill Waldman, Tim Watts, Andreas Wessel-Therhorn, Alexander Williams, Richard Williams, Claire Wright, Shane Zalvin, Tahsin Özgür

SOUND Mike Le Mare, Robert L. Sephton

Synopsis

When Tack upsets Zigzag the Vizier, the wizard drags him off to the royal castle, where Princess Yum Yum falls for the bashful boy and saves him from execution. Unfortunately, Zigzag plans to marry the princess in order to succeed her father, King Nod. The Thief, meanwhile, is more interested in gold than love and takes off with the protective orbs topping the palace. Together Tack and Yum Yum attempt to retrieve them in order to prevent Zigzag and the One-Eye army from conquering the city.
—IMDB

Director

Richard Williams

Involved in film animation from the young age of 12, Richard Williams’ international reputation as a true innovator grew so much that by 1990 he was voted “the Animator’s Animator” by a poll in the London Times, and a commentator for the New York Times has called Williams “miles ahead of anyone in the world of animation.” Williams’ work has spanned classic hand-animation style and incorporates contemporary computer animation methods.

In the late ’40s, Williams worked for both Disney and UPA studios, ultimately leaving for England in 1955 where he created his wonderful 33-minute animated film The Little Island (1958), which won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film in 1959. This piece gained him immediate recognition as a professional and highly talented animator.

This was followed with A Lecture on Man and Love Me Love Me Love Me in 1962, Circus Drawings (1964), Diary of a Madman (1965), The Dermis Probe (1966), and… read more

Involved in film animation from the young age of 12, Richard Williams’ international reputation as a true innovator grew so much that by 1990 he was voted “the Animator’s Animator” by a poll in the London Times, and a commentator for the New York Times has called Williams “miles ahead of anyone in the world of animation.” Williams’ work has spanned classic hand-animation style and incorporates contemporary computer animation methods.

In the late ’40s, Williams worked for both Disney and UPA studios, ultimately leaving for England in 1955 where he created his wonderful 33-minute animated film The Little Island (1958), which won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film in 1959. This piece gained him immediate recognition as a professional and highly talented animator.

This was followed with A Lecture on Man and Love Me Love Me Love Me in 1962, Circus Drawings (1964), Diary of a Madman (1965), The Dermis Probe (1966), and Nasrudin (1972). The made-for-TV version of A Christmas Carol (1971) won Williams his first Oscar. Williams worked on the unfortunately nearly forgotten film Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977) which has some charming songs by Joe Raposo, as well as advanced animation and characters somewhat reminiscent of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine (1968).
Williams has also designed and animated title sequences for several feature films, including the Blake Edwards/Peter Sellers vehicles Return of the Pink Panther (1974), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), Woody Allen’s What’s New Pussycat? (1965) directed by Clive Donner, Casino Royale (1967), and linking sequences for The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968).

Williams is arguably best known as the director of animation and designer of the characters for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). For this project, Williams won two Academy Awards including a Special Achievement Award. Besides his three Oscars, Williams has received three British Academy Awards, an Emmy, and an astonishing 246 international awards.

In 1995 he offered the Richard Williams Animation Masterclasses for professionals and students which are conducted in London, Hollywood, New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Sydney, Hong Kong, France, and Denmark. As an extension of his teaching, Williams has authored the acclaimed book The Animator’s Survival Kit (2001). Williams founded his own studio which continues to turn out animation films, as well as myriad prize-winning commercials. In 1995, Williams also animated, directed, and co-wrote the musical Arabian Knight with the voices of Vincent Price, Matthew Broderick, Eric Bogosian, and Jennifer Beal. – allmovie guide.

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