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ocpmovie

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22-Sep-2004
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10-Mar-2008
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Post
#258828
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258828/action/topic#258828
Time
Cheers! Very cool that people are having "Thief" nights .... I'm glad it translates.

The Mark II is of course available at Demonoid.com. Not sure if it's at mininova.org.

And, of course, for many of the special features, check out Ogg's postings at Google Video for Richard Williams ....

I thought the name "Brutay" was a bit too obvious, but hey, sometimes obvious is good. Worth noting that Iago, the equivalent in Aladdin, is named for another backstabber in a Shakespeare play.
Post
#258559
Topic
** The OCPMovie News & Releases Megathread **
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258559/action/topic#258559
Time
It's freezing cold in the apartment for some reason. There's no heating as far as I can tell. It's hot outside, but cold inside.

But I think a lot better when it's cold. I'm much more likely to write. I'm miserable when it's cold, but my brain works a lot better. Shades of having grown up in Connecticut. When it gets warmer, I lose some of my ability to think.

So yesterday, in an apartment without internet, I just wrote all day. I wrote and wrote and wrote, completing most of the first part of my She-Hulk screenplay. Almost enough material for a feature film, completed in one day.

I've realized that the She-Hulk story I'm intending to tell is long enough to fill two movies. The first being an origin story, the second taking us up to date with her current comic series. I had hoped to tell the origin story very quickly and get into the other stuff, but the origin story I wrote is long enough for its own film.

So hey. Why not?

The whole She-Hulk story would probably be impossible to shoot myself, unless I came into some money .... or even if I did come into some money. With "both" movies, if it really is two movies, it's a lot of material, with a lot of effects. However, I know I could pick a particular section ("episode") out of the longer script I'm writing and film that. As with my other scripts, I'm writing TV-style, and every half-hour or hour seems to be its own storyline.
Post
#258316
Topic
** The OCPMovie News & Releases Megathread **
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258316/action/topic#258316
Time
I'm back here in Los Angeles, living right down the street from where I was living before. I tried to move all the way across the country but only moved all the way across the street. Sadly the $1000 or more I (and others) spent for my unsuccessful attempt to move to Connecticut is money I'll never be able to get back. In fact, I still have to pay some bills from that move .... I have no idea how I'm going to be able to make it here when I couldn't before, now with even more bills to pay. My Uncle Bruce has pledged his support and we'll see how that goes. It's going to be hard but I feel it was the right thing to do, moving back. Giving L.A. another shot.

I'm already casting for my next movie, an insanely epic and amazing superhero comic adaptation that I can't possibly afford to film the way it should be filmed. Typical Garrett, you say with a chuckle. Or just think I'm crazy. Either will do.

If there are any people out there who do 3d animation and would be interested in working on effects for a film based on a popular superhero, please let me know ... or also anyone who dresses up as a superhero for any comic conventions and has their own costume - particularly Marvel superheroes, and particularly anyone in the Los Angeles area.

I still lack internet and a proper phone. The costs of cell phones are frightening to me, not sure why people pay that much. But I guess I have to get one, since the phone I'm using lacks long distance. I've been using a calling card.

I'm trying to catch up on back emails now. When I have more time I will post at my FFrevolution.com/InvisionBoard blog and tell the story of my My Name Is Earl audition. I don't think I got it, but that doesn't change my feeling that I was right not to move.
Post
#258315
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/258315/action/topic#258315
Time
Very weird bit of trivia! Thanks for that ..... we have that cut of the movie you describe, the Princess cut but titled Thief and the Cobbler - I refer to it as the Allied Filmmakers cut. I have a widescreen VHS of it with timecode on it.

Which you know, having read the entire thread! Wow, that's a lot of reading. It's been quite a ride here.

The VHS and DVD copies of the cut known as Arabian Knight, here in the states, have also been retitled The Thief and the Cobbler, so that seems to just be the accepted title now (despite what IMDB thinks!) ...

I'm back here in Los Angeles, living right down the street from where I was living before. Sadly the $1000 or more I spent unsuccessfully trying to move to Connecticut is money I'll never be able to get back.
Post
#257944
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/257944/action/topic#257944
Time
No, didn't do much to the workprint for the DVD. Woulda taken a bit of work to put it in better shape ..... there's a lot wrong with that AVI file.



Jerry Verschoor writes:

i am not going to take my collection to china, but will leave it in perth, if anyone is there, they can copy it and send it to you, but i dont want to loose anything from it. and i will only go to my dads house one time during my stay there, i am only there one week. from dec1-9th. i can leave it with my friend who lives there if u can organise someone to copy it. keep me updated. i have animation from babbit and ken harris, as well as dicks old stuff on paper, a lot of drawings, color models of most characters, model sheets galore, a large scrap book that holds alot of stuff. layouts and some cells. plus other things i forgot already. u can get a copy of it, but i cant do it for u, as i am not there long enough. talk soon.
jerry
Post
#257821
Topic
** The OCPMovie News & Releases Megathread **
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/257821/action/topic#257821
Time
Riiight. I'm clearly raking in millions from this, and lord knows I've never sent out any free discs at all, certainly not hundreds of them for the Thief project. You know how much those dual layer Star Wars 2.0 discs cost? And for every one I burned I had five bad burns I had to throw away ..... lord knows why but it cost a fortune. Oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, I'm HOMELESS right now, so hey, wow, I must have really made some profit there.

I could "out" most of the people I know well here for asking to be logically reimbursed for their time and energy in what is a time consuming and costly practice. I count time as money too.

If I'm a greedy profiteer, you're Wonder Woman.
Post
#257596
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/257596/action/topic#257596
Time
Jerry Verschoor writes us today .... is there anyone in Perth, Australia? Jerry has some artifacts and art from the original production, you could help him get it!


hi Garrett,
how is it going, i am off to australia soon, is there anyone in perth u know that could help me get the thief stuff for u? hope to hear from u to know how u r going. talk soon
jerry

Post
#257561
Topic
** The OCPMovie News & Releases Megathread **
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/257561/action/topic#257561
Time
Thanks guys. I do need a break, hopefully I'll have some luck .... I feel very confused right now, ping ponging between worlds, and although I'm disappointed in myself for leaving CT so quickly I am definitely going to try harder to make it in LA ..... we'll see how it goes.

Nothing to do with the MTV thing. Apparently I was submitted back in July and it only happened now ....
Post
#257437
Topic
** The OCPMovie News & Releases Megathread **
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/257437/action/topic#257437
Time
My uncle Bruce felt I would never forgive myself if I didn't give this opportunity a shot.

He thought I had to do it, no question.




Why am I doing this? It's one line. An audition to have one line.

I'm getting on a plane.



I'm getting on a plane back to L.A.




He wouldn't let me not do it. I really tried not to do it.



I'm going on a plane back to L.A. tomorrow.



I tried to move to CT and I failed.



I failed quickly.



Am I an idiot?



Does it even matter that I am?
Post
#257412
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/257412/action/topic#257412
Time
Okay, so anyway ....

I'm away for a few days and there are two new pages of posts in this thread! Damn. I've never seen such devotion in a droid ... er, thread before. You guys are really something, and I know that a thread with this much feeling behind it, that has brought so many results and things I could never have dreamed of to light will bring a bigger result one of these days - the result we're all waiting for. Oh, Disney.

I've arrived in Connecticut. All my stuff is in storage, I'm staying with family for the time being and I can't send out most DVDs at the moment. I'll probably be back up and running in December. I still won't be around here much for the time being.

Moderators have closed my Star Wars Classic 2.0 thread - specifically Moth3r - and there was also a thread here where I was accused of greed in this project, which is remarkable when you consider that I sent out literally thousands of free Thief related DVDs to members of the production team and made this DVD downloadable for free via torrent and have worked tirelessly this past year bringing new stuff to light and well blah blah blah WHATEVER.

My response to all this can be found in the Ocpmovie Megathread -- as well as more blah about what's going on in my life. Like how I had to turn down an audition for the TV show My Name is Earl ..... an audition I would have killed for a week ago.


ANYWAY ANYWAY, let me respond to SOME of what's going on in this thread.


First of all, major gratitude to Ogg Oggilby. He's posted most of the major things a Thief fan ought to watch right there on Google Video. The quality is Google-ugly, but I understand the downloadable iPod/PSP versions are lovely (I'll check 'em out when I'm back on my Mac), and since most of this stuff has NOT been torrented, this is a very cool way for you to get it for free the internet way. Already it's done TServo and Esn a favor by letting them see the crap versions of the movie.

So Ogg, as perhaps a sideways salute to Bonnie let me do this like Stephen Colbert.

Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger.

Big Tip of the Hat to you for making this stuff available in a new and wonderful way. You've worked hard as always, broadcasting to the masses, and this beats GBS-TV for viewership.

Wag of the Finger to you for reediting the Recobbled Cut to your own twisted needs. I'm saying that with a smirk because I kind of like the idea of a different cut, but for god's sake, if you're going to put the Recobbled Cut out there, PUT THE RECOBBLED CUT OUT THERE. I don't like my work being recut and reworked without my permission particularly when the original isn't available in that format.

I'm sure all the changes you made were valid in terms of matching the workprint closer. But I made the Recobbled Cut different from the workprint for a reason. Everything you've done here is something I considered doing in my own cut, and then decided wasn't a good idea.

I'd be interested in seeing a "closer to the workprint" cut, sure. You can present my own cut, and then your remix. I loved seeing your version of the flight over the mountains, which I think is just as valid as my version. It's a little weird to watch for an audience who doesn't know what they're watching, which is why I didn't do the same in my cut, but it's much closer to Richard's intentions and it shows what I WISH I could have done in my cut, if the footage was there.

I love the workprint, lord knows I've watched it enough times, more than anyone here. But it's not a finished version of the film. Fred Calvert may have ruined the film, but he did finish it, and he created changes in the film that are difficult to undo without making jarring, awkward edits. He also finished certain segments in ways that are, to my eyes, valid and acceptable for use in an edit that removes his hackwork otherwise. For example, it's certainly better for segments to have music. And anywhere that Calvert had a dissolve, I often had to have a dissolve too, because there was no editing around it.

The goal of this edit was to present the film as "Closer to Finished," and easier to watch for someone who knows nothing about the film's mangled history, and I included a lot of Calvert material because of that. It's not Williams quality, but it's finished animation, and that makes it all much easier to watch. Maybe some of the music isn't up to Williams' standards, but it's music which makes it easier to watch. Finished animation is much easier to watch than storyboards, and the Recobbled Cut combined with the workprint could serve as a storyboard for a new animation team to better what Calvert failed at.

But you know all that. So I'm just saying tsk tsk for sneaking in your own edits unannounced. But interesting to see your take on the film! I'd be curious to see a more workprinty workprint cut. I haven't really looked at your cut because of the computer I'm on - no MP4 capability it would seem.

My advice - if you think you've got the time to do so, do your own cut that fixes whatever problems you might have with my cut. Make it as different as you can, and more workprinty, and put it out as an alternate remix, but don't call it my cut. Rerecobbled?

Since that better Animating Art never turned up (Ben's still not around, STILL), you could also do your special edition of that ....


Okay, chiming in on other stuff .... the discussion has been quite interesting and sorry for chiming in suddenly but hey, it's my thread and I'll comment if I want to. =)


----

TServo -- Robert Folk's score is very derivative yeah, like a lot of mediocre film music is. It has that feel that it's very based on the temp music, which is interesting since we've HEARD the temp music in the Calvert Work in Progress, and it's nothing like the tracks that Folk's score seems derivative of. I mean, there's no Pink Panther, no James Horner, no John Williams (E.T., as you said) .... mostly it's Danny Elfman. But clearly Folk had his own "temp music" in mind.

I don't think it's ridiculously awful, when divorced from the Miramax and Calvert cuts. It's not really Williams' music, but I felt that, like Calvert's poor animation, it was fun to use it in this edit to "save it" .... let it serve the purpose of the film as intended.

I sort of intended the Recobbled Cut, in a weird way, to be the "Good Calvert" cut .... like if someone besides Williams had had to finish the film, but did it in a more respectful way.


>> The other is MeeMee saying "ugh, maybe something died". Quite frankly, the shot makes NO sense at all, since she was cut out of the previous scene (which I agree with). I don't understand why you would cut her out partially, but not completely. A viewer who hasn't seen the film suddenly sees someone answer YumYum, but has no idea who it is. The voice is different, and the way she inclines her head makes it clear that she is replying to someone, so it's pretty clear that she's not YumYum.

Uh, Yumyum and Meemee are identical twins. Identical. Even Tack can't tell them apart (in the Never Gave Up script).

It's clear that that's intended to be Yumyum, for the purpose of this edit. The voice isn't that different.

I feel quite confident that Williams would have left the line in, having Yumyum say it instead of Meemee. Or, if Hilary Pritchard was dead or unavailable, cut it entirely, but that leaves the scene without a punchline.

Can't have that. Of course I'd leave the line in. It makes the scene better.


>> For some reason, nearly all Williams photography has softer focus than Calvert's stuff. Notice how the handful of Williams shots in the Zig-Zag tower scene are darker and softer than the Calvert material.

It's older, and better photographed. Also photographed and lit with more subtlety. Leatherbarrow photographed the Williams stuff like a live action film .... done gorgeously, with multiple exposures and a million tricks.

Calvert's stuff looks clearer because the LINES ARE A MILE THICK. They were all animated with thick lines, artlessly, on a much smaller scale. Williams' art was much bigger, the lines thinner, photographed from farther away. Calvert is zooming in on tiny drawings, done without any of the skill.

Even the stuff done by the London team (like the scenes with Zigzag and One Eye), which are close enough to what Williams would have done, have much thicker lines because of the smaller paper/field size, and lack the glow of the tricksy, filtery Leatherbarrow photography, which was intended to be softer. The weaker animation is clear on a DVD but would look ridiculous on a big screen.


>>> I have thankfully never seen the Miramax cut until now.

Esn and Tservo. Yeah, it's unwatchable and I'm glad Ogg was able to bring it to you. You've been very critical (though approving) of my work on the Recobbled Cut, which I actually enjoy because it forces me to be honest and confront the ways in which I did deviate from the workprint. And I could tell you hadn't seen the Miramax cut when commenting. I find that people in general are more critical of the Recobbled Cut, until they see the Miramax Cut. Then they're so shocked that they get very quiet and are just kinda glad that I approached the project with an actual respect for the film!


>> It's also the best quality of the three (especially since ocp did a fantastic job on 24fps conversion).

(Commercials Reel) Thanks! For those coming in late, I also did color correction, made it all a bit more blue I think. This was originally from PAL and was slowed down from 25 fps to 24 fps, for use on an NTSC DVD.

>Studio Toledo
>>The last batch (of commercials) were probably from my collection!

Of course!

>> Thief Who Never Gave Up Documentary
>> This also came from me too (and from a videotape that cost me plenty on eBay).

Your copy of The Thief Who Never Gave Up is wonderful quality, a perfectly clear NTSC one, and worth the money as an artifact and copy.

I actually used a PAL master provided by baby hum for my DVD though -- he had converted it with great skill and that PAL clarity helped. I had a choice between your great transfer and his - a luxury I rarely had on this project!
Post
#257407
Topic
** The OCPMovie News & Releases Megathread **
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/257407/action/topic#257407
Time
The Star Wars Classic 2.0 thread has been locked. Knowing what I know about what goes on at this site, and what the moderators pretend doesn't go on at this site, it's an act of hypocrisy which makes me roll my eyes. I'd complain, but what's the point?

I've always provided my fan edits via torrent for free, and being accused of greed in two different locked threads is annoying. I was waiting to do so with SW2 because I was moving and in a bad spot. Certainly it would have been torrented, and I in fact had already provided a dual layer copy to Movealong for newsgroup posting (with a delay). How do you think I got into collecting fan edits and Star Wars discs in the first place? It wasn't through torrents. I still get most of my discs through mail trade.

The ridiculous amount of work and research I did on the Thief and the Cobbler project over many many months, the literally thousands of free discs I sent out, I didn't do that out of greed. I try to maintain a high standard and do good discs. I feel no need whatsoever to defend any of my actions.


Anyway.


Arrived in Connecticut. Very little money, no apartment, no place to stay. So no, I'm not sending out most discs right now and won't be able to until December probably. All my stuff is in storage.


I wanted to visit family, stay with family, for a little while, this being the holidays, but most of my family members couldn't/didn't let me stay, and a family member I was counting on especially didn't want me. So ah.


I'm now staying with a very nice Aunt and Uncle way away in Madison CT ...



Murphy's Law being Murphy's Law, the second you leave a place you finally get the opportunities you were waiting for, now that you can't take advantage of them.

I'm an actor (though at least one reviewer said I should stick to directing), and I had an agent for acting in L.A. This agent never got me any work, in the year I've been with him. I assumed he never would. I never heard from him and often forgot I had an agent at all.


Two days after arriving in Connecticut, breaking all ties with L.A. ...


I get the call every actor dreams of.

I had an audition for one of the top comedies on TV .... "My Name is Earl."



A good little part as a computer geek, something that everyone on these boards can testify I'd be perfect for.





But here I am in Connecticut, not in L.A.



Banging my head on the desk in frustration.



I got a lot of job offers the minute I left L.A. All for jobs in L.A. that would have saved my bacon if they'd come in the past year when absolutely nothing was happening for me.


I left L.A. because nothing was happening.


If I'd gotten an audition for My Name is Earl then, I would never have left ....


Two days later ....





Murphy's Law.



My aunt and uncle have offered me a plane ticket back, but what's the point? That's maybe $300 roundtrip, for what? An audition for a small role. And if I don't get it?



I told them no, while banging my head on the desk.



=(



I'm catching up on your emails. Best wishes. I'm still away and won't be around much.
Post
#257402
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/257402/action/topic#257402
Time
Oh, don't be shy, David Boulet wrote a review that makes me smile and it's more than worth a full length quote.

I did speak to David before he wrote this, and that's pretty obvious - I do wish he had watched the Recobbled Cut before writing though.



The Thief and the Cobbler
Written by DaViD Boulet
Friday, 17 November 2006
Miramax Home Entertainment / 1993 / 73 Minutes / G
Street Date: November 21, 2006

I’m not qualified to review the “movie” quality of this film having never seen the real film. You see, what’s been released on this DVD is a severely compromised shadow of the original concept by animation artist Richard Williams (best known for his work in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?). However, I’ll do my best to pass along a bit of what I’ve learned while becoming acquainted with this film for the purpose of this review.

Richard Williams began working on The Thief and the Cobbler in the mid-to-late ‘60s. At the time, he was assisted by several old-school Disney animators (Art Babbit and Grim Natwick) along with a few excellent artists from Warner Brothers. For many years Williams financed work on the film using his own money; it was his dream to create an unrivaled animated masterpiece that would manifest uncompromised artistic expression of the medium. After recognition for his work on Roger Rabbit, Williams was able to find investors willing to finance his production of The Thief and the Cobbler. However, after a brief period the studio hands funding the project became dubious of Williams’ ability to produce a marketable film and they took the project out of his hands for completion. This new team replaced many of the original animated scenes with farmed-out third-party animation and added clichéd musical sequences in an effort to clone the success of Aladdin. Several different versions of this studio interference were released in different regions. However the Miramax version is one of the most troubling; the studio added narrative dubbing for the lead characters during what Williams had animated to be silent sequences.

It was hoped by many fans that this new Miramax DVD release would present the film in a manner better reflecting Williams’ original workprint for the film (google to learn more about the surviving workprint). Or, if not presenting a fully restored director’s cut of the original film concept, it was hoped that Miramax would at least appeal to the fan base by presenting the film in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with a new film-to-digital transfer and include missing original workprint content in the form of bonus features and deleted scenes. None of those wishes have been granted in this new DVD release. Sadly, to my eyes and ears it looks like Miramax has simply transferred an old VHS/Beta copy onto DVD with fancy silk-screening and fold-out packaging to disguise the travesty.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

After having reviewed Disney’s recent re-release of The Fox And The Hound I honestly didn’t think it could get any worse.

It has.

The image quality of this disc, quite literally, looks like a VHS/Beta tape rather than a DVD . . . and one that’s seen better days. Colors are smeared and murky. Detail is nonexistent. There’s a strange flutter/wobble to whatever detail has managed to survive. It’s like what you expect to see when you record a cable program onto VHS for time-shifting. Blacks are crushed and grayscale tracking is non-linear. I could hardly believe my eyes; there’s even dot-crawl characteristic of composite video. That’s right. The Miramax magicians couldn’t even take the time to use a decent comb-filter to break out the luminance/chrominance channels when transcribing the source composite analog master to component digital for DVD authoring. And on top of it all, you’re forced to view the surviving fragments of Williams’ groundbreaking animation through a 1.33:1 pan-and-scan window that slices off almost half of the artwork at any given time.

Unforgivable.

You’re the consumer. If you are dissatisfied with the studio’s efforts on this title there is a toll-free number you can call. They value your input. Be polite.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby stereo mix is slightly less infuriating than the video presentation, but that’s not giving it any praise. High-frequency extension and detail are still intact and the soundstage has a surprising sense of depth at times. However, there’s enough wow and flutter on this soundtrack to make you think you’re listening to a cassette tape that had been played all summer long in the dash of an overheated car. Dynamic range is also severely restricted (sounds very compressed) and the audio has a tiny-quality that sounds a bit shrill at times. Without any solid bass extension, the audio sounds unsatisfyingly thin.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

No special features whatsoever are provided on this Miramax DVD release. None. Unless you count silk-screen artwork on the disc as a special feature. You don’t even get a booklet with printed chapter-stops. Oh, but you do get that fold-out pop-up castle in the cardboard DVD cover-sleeve. Maybe you can just buy the sleeve without the disc and save some money since that’s the only thing worth complimenting about this release.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

None are included on this disc.

Final Thoughts

Miramax had an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past with this new DVD release of The Thief and the Cobbler. Ideally, they painstakingly would have done their best to restore this unrealized work of Richard Williams’ animated art to its original, intended, form. At the very least, they might have presented the current compromised edit in the animation’s original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and provided the excised sequences and workprint content along side the feature film in the form of bonus material so collectors would have access to the original concept and animated sequences.

None of these criteria were realized. Rather, it looks to my eyes and sounds to my ears like Miramax has merely recycled the shoddy off-the-shelf composite analog master boasting no better than VHS image and sound qualities. Without even a single special feature to mitigate the offense, I heartily recommend you avoid this release and contact the studio to let them know about the proper DVD presentation that would earn your purchase.
Post
#256520
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/256520/action/topic#256520
Time
I've done the raw scan of the Thief Who Never Gave Up (1980ish) script, but a raw scan is pretty much unreadable, there are typos constantly and it's very hard to understand. So I have to go through it. I only fixed SOME of the Nasrudin screenplay, but I think this script is really worth reading as an extended view of the film, so I'll eventually go through and fix it.

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.

http://www.orangecow.org/thief/thiefpic10.jpg

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:
http://www.ctufilms.completelyfreehosting.com/cobbler/anwar7.jpg

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.



---



"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). . .

Post
#256499
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/256499/action/topic#256499
Time
Well done, Ogg! Well done! Broadcast to the masses!


I'm scanning the Thief Who Never Gave Up ("Once") script now.

I haven't read the entire thing as I wanted to get it scanned first. It's very interesting indeed, like reading a much longer extended version of the film.

The story is entirely the same, just longer and including Meemee and Bubba.


Williams cut out most of his dialogue after this script - he chopped lines up and combined them. With all the dialogue that was cut, one could make a whole other film. Heh.


Moving tomorrow ...
Post
#256410
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/256410/action/topic#256410
Time
Wow, this script is really an eye-opener. It's got a HUGE amount of extra stuff in it, every scene is significantly extended. Lots of extra extraneous dialogue everywhere that you know was recorded and often probably animated also. By far the most interesting "Thief" script I've read, and we've had 2 so far.


I'm drunk right now after my farewell party.


But before I go to sleep, I'd like to give you one tidbit of info.


If you read the Nasrudin script you know that the Meemee/Bubba story didn't end happily. Very different this time round. It does eventually have a happy ending, with Bubba, at the VERY end of the film, actually transformed into a handsome prince. It's clear that the unhappy joke ending bothered Richard Williams after a while (the way it bothered me) and he changed it to a happier one.

So here's my tidbit.

Everyone knows that Richard intended to give Tack one line at the end, and have the voice be Sean Connery.


Did you know he intended the same for Prince Bubba, to be voiced by Warren Beatty?






!