User Profile: reggiewanker - Original Trilogy

Post: #267529
Topic: The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/267529/action/topic#267529
Time: 23-Jan-2007 6:30 PM

I am de-lurking for two reasons. One is to offer my profound thanks to all of you who made the restoration of this film possible. From the first frame of footage I ever saw (a trailer attached to some Disney VHS) I knew this was something special. When I finally got to see the film on VHS a few years later, I unfortunately saw that it was obviously, and seemingly hopelessly, compromised (it seems too polite a choice of words). There were hints of its original glory buried within, but as a film it was all but unwatchable. As the internet rose to prominence, I followed the (lack of) progress made in getting the original version made available to the public. And then I stumbled across this website via the magic of Google, and saw that some masochistic lunatic was actually trying to restore it himself. And, with a lot of help from you guys, he pretty much pulled it off. I salute ocpmovie's incredible, Quixotic, unpaid efforts to restore a film from found tatters scattered literally around the world, and the efforts of all of you who made his work possible. You're heroes to a lot of artists and animators - there's no other way to put it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

The other reason is to add one name to the list of companies that would be worth contacting in the name of trying to get a more official restoration done, a company with far greater resources than the admirable and effective open-source approach taken thus far would be able to muster. I actually view the RECOBBLED CUT as a triumph of the open-source collaborative model, but that's a thread for Slashdot, not Originaltrilogy.

That company is Studio Ghibli, specifically their new Ghibli Museum Library sub-label, dedicated exclusively to Western animation. They've got the deep pockets to pay for what needs to be done - they can afford to do things that the well-intending likes of Unearthed Films and even Criterion simply couldn't afford, like solving pesky rights problems with the Weinstein Company, if that's even a factor in Japan, where the film last surfaced via Disney, who just happens to be Ghibli's main Japanese distributor. They've got the love and respect for animation in all its forms, and they'd certainly understand the significance of the project. I direct your eyes to their page for LE ROI ET L'OISEAU, a French animated film that I never heard of before today, which apparently has a protracted and troubled production history not unlike THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER, if not quite as extremely troubled and protracted. Look at the amount of love and effort that was put forth to present a restored version of this film to Japanese audiences (i.e. flip around the website trying to find the trailer like I did - it's well worth finding), and picture that, only with THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER. It's definitely a long shot, but the potential payoff is enormous, and there's certainly nothing lost by trying. THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER is a perfect fit with the concept of Ghibli Museum Library, and even if they're not in a position to do anything, if nothing else our pleas would not be falling on deaf ears. At worst they would fall upon helpless, sympathetic ones. They can be reached at post@ghibli.co.jp (it's probably a good idea to put ATTN: Ghibli Museum Library or something to that effect in the subject line), and obviously Japanese correspondence would simplify things on their end - but write in English if you must. I did. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" has served this project well thus far. There's no telling what might come of an attempt to bring Ghibli into the fray.

Thanks again for all of your hard work. I fade back into the mists of antiquity... I trust ocpmovie will see this one way or another.

(and no, I'm nobody of any importance pertaining to THIEF AND THE COBBLER, just a fan)

Post History