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On Tuesday, December 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Richard Williams presented his May 13, 1992 workprint of The Thief and the Cobbler for the first time publicly, over twenty years since production on his intended animated masterpiece famously shut down. Williams labored for 25 years on the now legendary feature film, inbetween working on commercials and other projects like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for which Williams won two Academy Awards, and the 1972 Oscar-winning animated short “A Christmas Carol,” which was also screened at the event.
The success of Roger Rabbit helped revitalize Disney and kick off its 90s animation renaissance. It also led to Warner Bros. financing Richard's dream project. Most of The Thief and the Cobbler was completed from 1989 to 1992, but at least six months was needed to complete the film when production shut down. The film was dropped into other hands and never completed as intended.
This night was a triumph for Williams, nearly fifty years after he first conceived the Thief character and his world while illustrating a series of books by Idries Shah about the humorous Sufi wiseman Mullah Nasrudin. Richard is now 80 years old and still animating.
Over 1000 people turned out for the event, including animation notables like Eric Goldberg, Chris Wedge, June Foray, Alan Menken, David Silverman, Phil Roman, Art Leonardi, Tom Sito, Mark Kausler, John Musker, Ron Clements, Theodore Thomas, Charles Solomon, Bob Kurtz, Chris Wedge, 96-year old Looney Tunes painter Martha Sigall, Kevin Kurytnik, Carol Beecher, Jerry Beck, Yvette Kaplan, Carl Bell, Andreas Wessel-Therhorn, and Dick Williams’ daughters Claire and Holly Williams.
In the lobby, visitors could see the Academy’s public exhibition “Richard Williams: Master of Animation,” which had been on display since October. Original art, paintings and cels from Richard's career were there, as well as HD screens displaying a new documentary about Richard. Clips from The Thief and the Cobbler were included, along with Richard speaking about the film, and apparently a lengthy clip from the secret film Richard is working on now. I wasn't able to simply stand and watch the new material, but there were high-quality clips from "The Little Island" and "Love Me Love Me Love Me," and cels from those films on the wall. There was a giant painting of Roger Rabbit, and tiny reproductions of Thief and the Cobbler storyboards. It was a great tribute to Richard's work, which I perused while chatting with friends.
The digital transfer of A Christmas Carol was excellent quality. We were told that for the short's theatrical release, the color timing had been altered, to look more like "parchment," compared to what was seen on television. That color timing is also seen on our 16mm copy, as transferred by Peter C. for The Thief Archive, although the Academy transfer is warmer and less blue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTzyC9CZuOA
The Oscar-winning short looked terrific, and very clean, with subtle colors and accurate contrast, very much ready for home video release. It lacked somewhat in vertical stability, however, seeming to vibrate slightly especially during the opening credits.
Then it was time for the long-delayed premiere of The Thief and the Cobbler.
"I'm here to thank Randy," Richard began by saying. "He's been on this case for many years. At least 14 years. And he is the reason that this has been redigitized, and gone through tremendous expense and work. So thank you very much." The audience applauded. "I also want to thank my lifelong friend from high school Carl Bell, who's been a Governor of the Academy." Carl Bell is a Governor of the Academy's Short films and feature animation branch.
While fans of the film have seen a slightly earlier workprint version of The Thief and the Cobbler on VHS for two decades now, this later May 13, 1992 workprint, struck on the last day of production, is similar but different. Yes, this is a version the public had not seen before, and I will detail all those differences at the end of this post.
For comparison, here is the VHS workprint:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_aHoRGr8KQ
Most people here, and many in that audience, will be more familiar with my restored version, The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Cut, which you can see here, as released in September 2013. The Recobbled Cut has much more finished footage and sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZibUpH- ... 620B61D076
The workprint as screened was of course an unrestored version, though digitally transferred from Richard's own 35mm copy with loving care. Being a duplicate workprint it did suffer from very high contrast, with detail lost in the highs and lows. During the war machine finale, the One Eye soldiers were mostly black without other details, and dark scenes such as The Thief walking into the Cobbler's shop and The Thief rejoicing that his hands haven't been chopped off were heavy with digital noise, from the transfer technicians trying to show what detail was still left in the print and transfer. The workprint is known for having a golden yellow color to it, but this transfer was a bit more green. The opening scenes of the film looked a bit sickly rather than lush. Other scenes, like The Thief flying with yellow "wings," looked excellent and worthy of home video release, because they hadn't taxed the transfer too far into the black or white areas.
You'll be curious how this compares to The Recobbled Cut. Of course most of the Recobbled Cut is from VHS and DVD sources, and doesn't even begin to compare to 35mm, although since the DVD sources are from the "official" releases of Arabian Knight and Princess and the Cobbler, they don't suffer from contrast issues. We transferred about 30 minutes of the film from 35mm workprint reels for the Mark 4 Recobbled Cut, and these reels also suffer from contrast issues with detail lost in the black areas. However, they do look better, and truer in color, than the Academy workprint. I also hand-restored this footage for use in the Recobbled Cut, removing the splices and jumps which appear on every cut, as well as dirt and damage.
The ideal solution to restore The Thief and the Cobbler would be to get a 35mm print of The Princess and the Cobbler or Arabian Knight and transfer that as well. As well as any negatives that might exist. A workprint just can't compare in terms of picture quality, as it was never intended to be a released version of the film.
At the Academy, this was the first time I, or anyone else, had seen most of these scenes in full 35mm quality. All the footage looked clean, clear and terrific as you'd expect.
This was also a later version of the film than the familiar workprint, so there were a few pleasant surprises. In the opening "crystal ball" sequence, there was finished color footage of clouds, although a bit rough-looking and not done on "ones." The scene of Phido attacking Tack in his cell featured two pencil-test closeups of Tack, and a full-color shot of Phido's eye seen through the cell door - a shot Chris Fern and I had recreated for the Recobbled Mark 4! A pencil test of Roofless digging in the ground was more complete than in the familiar workprint, and we saw pencil tests that we've only seen in the obscure "Keramidas Cut" of the film, such as Yum Yum confronting Phido, the Eunuchs sleeping, and the Brigands laughing at the war machine. Similarly from the Keramidas Cut, there was also complete color footage of Tack walking down a hallway and making Yum Yum's face out of thread. It's clear that the "Keramidas Cut" was made from this version.
It's not a lot of footage; the May 13 workprint isn't much different from the familiar workprint. But it's there.
I was of course excited to see these short bursts of unseen "Thief." For a public screening, though, the familiar workprint would have been slightly better to show an audience. The familiar workprint was clearly at an editing stage where Richard felt happy showing it to people. This workprint was struck because Richard was losing the film, and there are some oddities about it.
I am not sure how much of this is intentional, but there are many points on the soundtrack where dialogue, music, sound effects, or some other important element are absent from the mix, making many scenes less effective than they should be. Many scenes have also had a blue line drawn on them, for unknown editing reasons - the scene of The Thief in Yum Yum's bedroom is rife with this. Many scenes also are in the process of being retimed, and thus have a few frames of blank film spliced in somewhere. This was so common I didn't keep track of it. So it's a bit more "damaged" or worked on than the familiar workprint.
I was told by several people afterward that they wished I'd been there to "recobble" and restore the film at least a little - that is, get rid of any mistakes, fill out the sound mix and present a much more complete film. I can't help but agree.
But these are minor quibbles. Here it is at last, the Thief and the Cobbler workprint, in a public screening, and it went over very well with the audience.
I'm so overly familiar with the material now that it was a pleasant experience hearing the audience roar with laughter at the Thief's exploits throughout, and cheer at the destruction of the War Machine. Not all of the humor of the film got laughs from this audience, who sometimes seemed at sea in the unfinished presentation, but the Thief's scenes in particular were very popular indeed, and that's a testament to the skill of Ken Harris, Dick Williams, Holger Leihe and all the animators.
The film featured no front or end credits, or a logo, apart from two very simple text cards at front calling it "The Thief and the Cobbler: A Moment in Time."
The credits in the program given out to us were very brief and very incomplete, written up from Richard's memory. The older master animators who had taught the younger crew were listed, and a handful of the newer animators, but not many.
Even so there was one surprise, with Princess Yum Yum credited to Sara Crowe - which the production notes of the film (scanned with thanks to Dane Becker) confirm.
I typed up a full credit list for the Recobbled Cut Mark 4, and I have to admit that watching the workprint made me appreciate my years of hard work on the Recobbled Cut. I found myself missing all the little touches I'd put in to make the film play better with an audience. I worked very hard and created a damned good version of the film. It was actually odd seeing the film in its raw state.
It was "A Moment in Time," and a triumph for Richard Williams, as the audience got on their feet to give him a standing ovation.
He then sat for a Q&A session, which Sam Sleiman recorded here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/f7yk8o
And some brief videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivpaLTVOVKw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EREKvwRgLoM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9hqroKTORc
Richard didn't mention Nasrudin or Idries Shah or Fred Calvert. No, this was a celebration of the sort of stuff about The Thief that you'd want to remember, with emphasis, as ever, on the film's earlier development with the great Ken Harris, Art Babbit, and so on. I feel that the (mostly young) animators who worked on the film during major production from 1990-1992 get overlooked, as they did exceptional work learning and living up to Richard's standards. Andreas Wessel-Therhorn, who animated Zigzag's lackeys, was in attendance and was singled out for credit by Williams.
While there were many animation notables there I failed to recognize, I did spot legendary voice actress June Foray, and said hello to Eric Goldberg, Tom Sito, Mark Kausler, Jerry Beck, Yvette Kaplan, Allen Battino, and Persistence of Vision director Kevin Schreck (and his aunt and uncle). Kevin, Margaret Williams and I had had lunch the day before. I also spoke to people I knew, like Sam Sleiman and Marcus Brenneman, Disney licensing artist John Loter, Alexander McDonald of the Cinefamily, and others.
I also spoke to Richard Williams himself.
My trip to Los Angeles had been very kindly paid for by forum members, and I feel very lucky and privileged to have such friends and such support that I could be there at this historic moment in time. I was staying under the kind hospitality of Margaret Williams, Richard's ex-wife who wrote the film's screenplay in the mid-1970s, which helped me not go completely broke in Los Angeles.
Margaret had spoken to her daughter - Claire, I think, or Holly - and had heard that Richard Williams didn't want to stick around to meet and speak to people before or after the screening, as he had been mobbed at the event in October. That event sold out, and this one nearly sold out as well. Certainly the large theater was largely full.
That's a shame, I thought. After eight years of restoring his work it would be nice to meet Richard Williams. These chances don't come along often.
But he did stick around, albeit briefly. He didn't leave the stage, and was surrounded by security guards and his wife, Imogen Sutton, but he stayed long enough to speak to four or five people among the many who had come up to the stage below him. He had a deer-in-headlights look in his eyes, but it seemed that he was sticking around long enough to be polite and talk to a handful of people, which seemed to me like the best way to handle the situation. It seemed to me that with all his security he could have left at any time.
One fan asked him for his autograph. He said if he did that he'd have to sign for everyone and never stop.
Well then, I thought. I suppose this is my one chance to meet him. I think someone behind me even said, go, you have to go, go ahead. I suppose I also wanted to come back with a good story for all the forum members and friends who had supported me coming here.
He was talking to people on his right. I was on his left, and it wasn't all that easy to get closer and get his attention.
I was the last one to speak to him before he left. I think he was already turning to leave.
I shook his hand and told him I ran a community of fans on the internet who loved his work, and that I'd eight years restoring The Thief and his other work. He put his hands on my shoulders and said, "Do your own stuff!" I said, I do. I mentioned Kevin Schreck and his film, and handed him three DVDs of The Recobbled Cut and his business card. Then his wife finally stepped in to lead him away.
It was awkward enough, but it happened, and I'm glad it did. It was odd handing him copies of his own film, as I restored it. I still have no idea what knowledge he has, or doesn't have, of the Recobbled Cut and Thief Archive and everything we've done here to promote, restore and rehabilitate the reputation of these films.
Afterward, I've been told, Richard went out for drinks with about fifteen people that Imogen Sutton invited, including NYU animation teacher Dean Kalman Lennert, filmmaker Scott Storm, and Walking Dead actor Scott Wilson.
Lennert asked Richard a few questions - notably whether Richard himself dubbed Zigzag's voice on certain lines to replace the ailing Vincent Price. Richard said he did for the line "What a wonderful swing." He couldn't recall if he did on "We'll see who wins at the end of the day." Lennert also asked Williams if Sean Connery ever managed to record his one line as the Cobbler - "I love you." Richard said no, and that's a shame.
After the screening, Margaret Williams needed to get home and rest. I wound up getting a ride back later with screenwriter Ernie Vecchione, and we had a very nice chat.
The next day, Margaret heard that I was one of a mob who had "stormed the stage" to bother Richard. I'm not sure who phrased it that way. When she'd told me that Dick didn't want to stick around after the screening, I hadn't realized that was her (and the family, perhaps) requesting that I not try to speak to Dick specifically. She wasn't happy, to say the least, and I gather that I'm not to be forgiven for this. I had to stay at a hotel that night, gotten at the last minute at more expense than I could really afford. The lamp in the room looked very much like the Three Golden Balls. I took a picture.
She's defriended me on Facebook. It's clear that Richard and his film are still a touchy and emotional subject for her, and probably other members of the family, with a lot of conflicting emotions involved. I stepped right into that with the grace of a rhinoceros, but my actions seemed innocent and logical enough at the time. Even now I don't think I really did anything wrong. But these things are tricky. We're a tricky species.
I'm snowed in, now, after digging myself out of snow yesterday. It's been snowing a lot. My flight to Los Angeles was delayed twelve hours, and I barely made it, since the Philadelphia airport was closed for snow and the Dallas airport had been all but shut down for several days. I was in the Dallas airport overnight, unable to sleep because of the snow. There were no shuttles available to hotels if I'd wanted one. I was told that if the early-morning flight I'd been booked on didn't come off, it would be another two days before I could get another. But the flight went, and I got to Los Angeles. And Margaret's hospitality was hospitable, until she got sick of me, which I do blame on myself. The flight back to Connecticut went off without delay, thankfully, though it took an hour to dig my car out from under the ice in the parking lot. I drove two hours back to New York and arrived home at 3:30 AM, exhausted and feeling I'd barely made it back alive.
I always feel that way about Los Angeles.
On the way back I read a book called Families and How to Survive Them, by Robin Skynner and John Cleese. Some of its ideas are so outdated now as to be offensive, but I felt I learned something from it, about people. Heaven knows I could use the help sometimes.
