Coming soon.
Hey, check out this scan of the title page. Note no credit for Sean Connery, suggesting that by 1988 or so Sean Connery had not recorded his voicework - wonder if he ever did.
http://www.orangecow.org/thief/oncecard.jpg
I'm editing the script now. This is going to take a loong time.
I'm actually attempting to recreate Williams' formatting, which is unusual.
http://www.orangecow.org/thief/thiefwhonevergaveup.rtf
You can check out this text file - As I write this I'm still at the beginning of the script, but I'll keep uploading as I proofread and fix it further.
NOTES ON THINGS:
A lot of things that happen in the movie make much, much more sense after reading this script.
There are a lot of little things in the movie which seem odd, and are completely explained by scenes which were cut out.
For example, in the scene where the Thief steals from the Princess' bedroom, she's falling asleep on a white fur rug, having broken a huge pile of dozens of shoes.
This would seem to show her obsession with the Cobbler, and her desire to give him something to do, which might keep him alive. (But at this point in the final cut, I believe the Cobbler is missing.)
Well, in this script, it's spelled out much more explicitly that Yumyum is breaking all her shoes to keep the Cobbler alive. Zigzag has openly said to her that the Cobbler will be beheaded once she is "finished" with him.
So she breaks all her shoes to keep Tack alive.
More interestingly, Zigzag's four henchmen, Goblet, Gopher, Slap and Tickle, are given much more defined personalities, and much, much more screen time. You get to know all of them and the differences between them.
Goblet (the big purple one) provides Zigzag with wine. Goblet is desperate to be thought of as smart and worldly and French-speaking, wants to be the #1 lackey and wants to be Grand Vizier himself someday ..... a mini-Zigzag.
Tickle (the green one) is clearly gay, giggles a lot and enjoys hairdressing.
Slap, the little grey pig, is more physical, and has some knowledge of Spanish. Gopher, the thin pink one, is slight of build, English and a deferent yes-man ... as are they all.
There's much more with these guys - after we see the princesses bathe, we would have had to see the yes-men bathing Zigzag!
There's also the matter of the Dwarf, a character played by George Melly, who barely exists in the final film. He's very much present in this script.
I believe this is the character:
That's a storyboard from the Nasrudin film, of the Grand Vizier's big entrance. This character shouts that the Grand Vizier is coming.
The Dwarf is a deep-voiced lackey. Reading this script, I realized that you do HEAR the Dwarf in the film - he's the one who shouts "Open for the royal polo ponies!"
I'd always wondered what character exactly said that.
I don't believe you ever see the Dwarf in the film, whether he looks like that storyboard or not. If anyone can prove me wrong, go ahead.
The script also makes it very clear that all the singing you hear in the film, the high-pitched voices that sing things like "Open for the royal polo ponies" and "Beautiful. Princess. Yumyum!" is courtesy of the Eunuchs, the black servants who you see throughout the film. You do see them singing for Zigzag at one point in the workprint, so that should have been clear, but the script makes it very clear indeed.
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"The whole sequence has a feeling of live-action time-lapse photography, but the magic and breadth are what can only be achieved with animation, as we animate nature's elements." - stage direction
Tony White spoke lovingly of a really amazingly animated shot, done way back in the 70s. It was a loooong shot of a Brigand, with the camera constantly moving around him, really difficult animation, as the Brigand dreams of "Salome" ....
Well, heeeere's the script!
SEQ. 9.2.
---------
Fade in on the caravan, camped for the night at a beautiful desert oasis, a pool of water reflecting a crescent moon and stars, ringed by palm trees. fhe camel is parked next to the pool.
The camera moves in. We see the white and gold palanquin, resting on the sand. There is a white and gold tent pitched nearby with the Four Eunuchs asleep outside it. The Cobbler is sleeping in front of the door of the tent. Brigands lie all over the place, using each other as pillows and fooltrests, snoring and wheezing in a ragged chorus.
We hear the sound of the flies and the camera pans past the collapsed Brigands over to a sand dune where the Thief's head appears. He slowly crawls forward over the rim of the dune and starts downward toward the camp. Suddenly, the sand slides down with him and overtakes him, burying him with a hiss at the bottom. The flies hover over the mound. A couple of Brigands roll over, gouging each other, and making adjustments in their sleep. A hoof-handed Brigand by a small rock is talking in his sleep. The skinny book-marking snake comes out from behind the rock and listens to the Brigand's dream, windinq himself around his arm in sympathy.
Hoof: OH SALOME, HEH HEH,
WHEN I THINK OF YOU, SALOME
IN ALL THAT SAND (laugh)
EVERYTHING . . .
AND YOU DANCING JUST FOR ME . . .
THOSE LOVELY EYES (laughs)
OH, SALOME, HAVE YOU GOT LOVELY LEGS . . .
SALOME, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SAY THIS (laugh)
I WAS WONDERING . . . UH, HUH . . .
IF, UH, WE COULD MEET SOME TIME . . .
A . . . GAIN . . . (laughs)
UH . . . UH . . . AND . . .
I WOULD BE VERY NICE TO YOU . . . UH . . .
AND YOU COULD BE . . . UH . . . VERY NICE TO ME . . .
UH . . . (laugh) UH . . . UH . . . UH . . .
KINDA NICE IF WE COULD SORTA GO OUT SOME EVENING
AND THE MOON WAS SHINING . . . Y'KNOW . . . HEH . . .
Hoof: (continuing)
YOU WEAR THAT NICE COSTUME . . . (laugh) . . .
REMEMBER THAT COSTUME THAT YOU USED TO DANCE IN . . .
(laugh). . . AND THROW MOST OF IT AWAY . . . HEH,
UH . . . UH . . . AND . . . AND . . . THEN WE COULD . . .
SORTA SPREAD IT OUT . . . (laugh) . . . UH . . . UH . . .
ON THE SAND . . . TALK. UH . . . WE COULD TALK . . .
SALOME. . . COULDN'T WE?
. . .ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE. . .UH. . .US. . .
AND. . .UH. . .MAYBE WE COULD. . .KISS. . .
MAYBE. . .(Iaugh). . .AH. . .AH. . .
IT'S ALL A MISTAKE, I SUPPOSE. . .
NEVER HAPPENED, I'M SURE. . .
NO HARM IN DREAMING. . . (sigh). . .