Okay, asking for any info here, from sources wiser than myself.
From:
http://www.geocities.com/eddie_bowers/edsummer.html
1969 (the film is still about the Mullah Nasrudin)
The BBC produced a documentary on the film’s progress. It is now called "The Golden City."
1981
The BBC produces another documentary about the Project, which was sometimes called "Once..."
Hmm.
Anyone know more about the 1969 documentary? Because that would be fascinating beyond belief, if it were to turn up. It shows the movie at a very early stage, before it was actually the movie we know it as. (Williams started again from scratch four years later.)
I'm curious about the Mullah Nasrudin version of the film, because we've never seen anything from that version, which would presumably have been animated in the "B.C./Wizard of Id" like style seen in early Williams work ... some of the Thief animation shows signs of Williams' early style, and seems to come from that version, though it was probably retraced later.
Also, is this 1981 documentary being discussed here something by the BBC we've never seen?
There is a Thames documentary which we've definitely seen, probably from 1981 or so at that. It shows the film at a stage when it's titled "The Thief Who Never Gave Up." According to this timeline, that would have been around 1982. Notably, the Thames doc does not show "Ziggy's Gift," which would have been created that same year.
Is the Thames documentary the same as the BBC documentary, or were there two documentaries done around the same time, with the BBC one appearing earlier?
Any information anyone has ...