Discussing All Versions of Thief and The Cobbler

Well, this is an interesting subject to talk about. The purpose of this journal is for me to talk about every version of The Thief and The Cobbler I saw in my life. Now we all know the production hell history behind it, so I shouldn't waste time. I have no clue what order I intend for this, but I will try to include as much detail as possible. Let's get started!

WILLIAMS WORKPRINT/KERAMIDAS WORKPRINT
I've only seen small clips and snippets, but this is definitely a prime source for those needing to see the full potential of this movie. Since I didn't see the entirety, although it's available, let's move on.

ALLIED FILMMAKERS/THE PRINCESS AND THE COBBLER/CALVERT
We're getting into infamous territory. Most of you know Fred Calvert and would probably despise him despite him being the only one who managed to get the movie in theaters. I'll address the workprint for it next. The narrator didn't sound good, although you would hear it almost as much as Broderick from the version I'll talk about later. Almost. Tack has the voice of Steve Lively, which is honestly a good voice. He just needs better writing. This is also where the Disney Princess bullshit version of Princess Yumyum would be seen. This time it was played by Bobbi Page. These two actors are the main singers for three songs in this version. Speaking of which, the songs kinda suck. "She Is More" was a song I really couldn't fuckin' stand. It felt painful. Trust me. "Am I Feeling Love" was kinda generic but at least performed okay. "It's So Amazing" has a pretty off-putting name, and sounds more like that song from Aladdin, but it was performed okay too. "What Happens When You Don't Finish School" wasn't horrible, but it didn't feel like the rest of the film. And here's something cool I learned: Donald Pleasance, who played Dr. Loomis in Halloween 1-6, also played Phido in this version! And here's another thing: Mona Marshall played the Nurse. You know, from South Park fame. Overall, there's no harm although it wasn't good. I'll consider it okay.

CALVERT WORKPRINT
Oh boy, this is interesting. There are a LOT of half-assed storyboards you can clearly see. A lot of the performances in terms of voice acting sound strangely different despite being played by the same people. There's even some salvaged elements from the original version. Huge emphasis on SOME. One in particular was that polo ponies chant after Tack introduces himself to Princess Yumyum. Another thing to address is that the narrator is.... odd. She is literally PMS-ing through the entire workprint! But I would rather have that over the creepy elderly narration from the final product. Maybe it's just me

MIRAMAX/ARABIAN KNIGHT
Many consider this version to be the worst of the bunch. And I can see why. Although it could be just me, but Jonathan Winters was kinda good. Just exclude some dialogue and it'll be fine. I guess he had the right vocal tone. And I honestly have suspicion that the voice for the Witch here is almost the same as the PMS-ing narrator from the Calvert workprint. Thinking too hard but I don't care. Not much else is different except for eight cut-out minutes including important plot elements and the "that's a lot of fish" guy voicing Tack. (You know who I'm talkin' about.) Ironically, I don't see the harm of showing this one to your kids. If a kid wanted to see this movie, I wouldn't mind although the Miramax one isn't for the best.

RECOBBLED CUT
This is where the majority of fans are happy. And I can't fault them for it. If you want an example of the work shown here, check out the HD restoration that the YT channel "thethiefarchive" did for the playing cards scene. It looked perfect. The latest version (and sadly last) is Mark IV. And as such, it's the most shared version and it's even used on sites like KissCartoon. An interesting thing to note is that it includes scenes from the Calvert version for a specific reason. It turns out they actually helped move the plot, so that's also why it's not called a DIRECTOR'S cut. The sources he got and cleaned up are so good, it's too hard to explain. It's a movie I actually stayed in my seat for. It's perfect.

All right, that's my journal about the versions of The Thief and The Cobbler I saw in my life in the past three or four months. All that's left is to pray that an official restoration comes around. But until then, the Recobbled Cut is all we have. This was one of two journal entries related to it, by the way! The next one is about a remake script I wrote! Stay tuned.

#thethiefandthecobbler #fredcalvert #richardwilliams #miramax #review