The Thief and the Cobbler

The Thief and the Cobbler is a 1993 British animated fantasy film directed, co-written and co-produced by Canadian animator Richard Williams. The film is famous for its animation and its long, troubled history. Williams worked 28 years on the project. Beginning production in 1964, Williams intended The Thief and the Cobbler to be his masterpiece, and a milestone in the art of animation. Due to independent funding and its complex animation, The Thief and the Cobbler was in and out of production for over two decades, until Williams, buoyed by his success as animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, signed a deal in 1988 to have Warner Bros. finance and distribute the film. However, negotiations broke down when production went over budget and behind schedule and Williams was unable to complete the film on time. As Warner Bros. later pulled out, a completion bond company assumed control of The Thief and the Cobbler and had it finished by producer Fred Calvert without Williams' involvement.

Plot
The film opens with a narrator describing a prosperous city called the Golden City, which is ruled by the sleepy King Nod and protected by three golden balls positioned atop its tallest minaret. According to a prophecy, the city would fall to a race of warlike, one-eyed monsters referred to as "one-eyes" should the balls be removed, and could only be saved by "the simplest soul with the smallest and simplest of things". Living in the city are a humble and good-hearted cobbler named Tack and a nameless, unsuccessful yet persistent thief. Both characters are mute and have no dialogue.

When the thief tries his luck in Tack's house, the two scuffle and stumble onto the street, causing Tack's tacks to fall out onto the street while Zigzag, King Nod's Grand Vizier, walks through it. Zigzag steps on one of the tacks and orders Tack to be arrested while the thief escapes. Tack is brought before King Nod and his daughter, Princess Yum-Yum, who takes an instant liking to Tack. Before Zigzag can convince Nod to have Tack executed, Yum-Yum saves Tack by breaking one of her shoes and ordering Tack to fix it. While repairing her shoe, Tack and Yum-Yum become increasingly attracted to each other, much to the jealousy of Zigzag, who lusts after Yum-Yum and plots to take over the kingdom by marrying her. Meanwhile, the thief notices the golden balls atop the minaret and decides to steal them. After breaking into the palace through a gutter, the thief steals the repaired shoe from Tack, leading the cobbler to chase him through the palace. Upon retrieving the shoe, Tack bumps into Zigzag, who notices the shoe is fixed and takes the opportunity to lock Tack in a dungeon.

The next morning, Nod has a vision of the Golden City's doom at the hands of the one-eyes. While Zigzag tries to convince Nod of the kingdom's security under the protection of the golden balls, the thief manages to steal the balls after several failed attempts, only to lose them to Zigzag's minions. Tack escapes from his cell using his cobbling tools during the ensuing panic. Nod notices the balls' disappearance after being warned of the one-eyes by a dying soldier who was mortally wounded during an attack against them. Zigzag attempts to use the stolen balls to blackmail the king into letting him marry Yum-Yum. When Nod refuses, Zigzag defects to the one-eyes and gives them the balls instead.

Nod sends Yum-Yum, her nanny, and Tack on a journey to ask for help from a "mad, holy old witch" who lives in the desert. They are secretly followed by the thief, who hears of treasures on the journey but has no success stealing any. They also meet a band of dimwitted brigands led by Chief Ruthless in the desert whom Yum-Yum declares as her royal guard. The protagonists reach the hand-shaped tower where the witch lives, and learn from the witch that Tack is the one prophesied to save the Golden City. The witch also presents a riddle: "Attack, attack, attack! A tack, see? But it's what you do with what you've got!"

The protagonists return to the Golden City to find the one-eyes' massive war machine approaching. Remembering the witch's riddle, Tack shoots a single tack into the enemy's midst, sparking a Goldberg-esque chain reaction that causes the war machine to slowly collapse and destroy the entire one-eye army. Zigzag tries to escape, but falls into a pit where he is ambushed by alligators and his mistreated pet vulture Phido. Seeing how his death is inevitable, Zigzag accepts his death as he lets the animals eat him alive. The thief, avoiding many deathtraps, steals the golden balls from the collapsing machine, only to have them taken away from him by Tack, after which the thief gives up and lets Tack have them. With peace restored and the prophecy fulfilled, the city celebrates as Tack and Yum-Yum marry; before they kiss, Tack speaks for the first and only time in the film, saying "I love you" to Yum-Yum in a deep voice. The film ends with the thief stealing the entire reel of film and running away.

Original

 * Vincent Price - ZigZag the Grand Vizier
 * Sir Anthony Quayle - King Nod
 * Hilary Pritchard - Princess Yumyum
 * Joan Sims - Mad Holy Old Witch
 * Windsor Davies - Chief Roofless
 * Felix Aylmer - Narrator
 * Paul Matthews - Mighty One Eye
 * Clinton Sundberg - Dying Survivor
 * Donald Pleasance - Phido the Vulture
 * Kenneth Williams - Goblet and Tickle
 * Stanley Baxter - Gopher and Slap
 * George Melly - Dwarf
 * Eddie Byrne - Hoof
 * Thick Wilson - Hook
 * Fred Shaw - Goolie
 * Miriam Margolyes - Maiden from Mombassa
 * Joss Ackland, Dermot Walsh, Declan Mulholland, Peter Clayton, Mike Nash, Derek Hinson, Ramsay Williams - Other Brigands
 * Sean Connnery - Tack the Cobbler

Additional Dialogue (Calvert cast)

 * Clive Revill - King Nod
 * Mona Marshall - Nurse
 * Bobbi Page - Princess Yumyum

Allied Filmmakers

 * Ed. E. Carroll - Thief
 * Clive Revill - King Nod
 * Mona Marshall - Nurse and Witch
 * Joan Sims - Witch
 * Kevin Dorsey - Mighty One-Eye
 * Donald Pleasence - Phido
 * Stanley Baxter - Gofer and Slap
 * Kenneth Williams - Goblet and Tickle
 * Clinton Sundberg - Dying Soldier
 * Frederick Shaw - Goolie
 * Thick Wilson - Sergeant Hook
 * Eddie Byrne - Hoof
 * Peter Clayton, Geoff Golden, Derek Hinson, Declan Mulholland, Mike Nash, Tony Scannell, Dermot Walsh, Ramsay Williams - Other Brigands

Miramax

 * Vincent Price - ZigZag
 * Matthew Broderick - Tack, the Cobbler
 * Jennifer Beals - Princess YumYum
 * Eric Bogosian - Phido
 * Toni Collette - Nurse and Witch
 * Jonathan Winters - The Thief
 * Bobbi Page - Singing Voice of Princess YumYum
 * Clive Revill - King Nod
 * Kevin Dorsey - Mighty One-Eye
 * Stanley Baxter - Gofer and Slap
 * Kenneth Williams - Goblet and Tickle
 * Clinton Sundberg - Dying Soldier
 * Windsor Davies - Roofless
 * Frederick Shaw - Goolie
 * Thick Wilson - Sergeant Hook
 * Eddie Byrne - Hoof
 * Peter Clayton, Geoff Golden, Derek Hinson, Declan Mulholland, Mike Nash, Tony Scannell, Dermot Walsh, Ramsay Williams - Other Brigands

Additional Voices

 * Bobbi Page
 * Donald Pleasence
 * Ed E. Carroll
 * Mona Marshall
 * Steve Lively