Richard Williams (animator) - The Thief and The Cobbler

Richard Williams' magnum opus, a painstakingly hand-animated epic inspired by the Arabian Nights and with the production title The Thief and the Cobbler, was begun in 1964 and was initially self-funded. As a largely non-verbal feature meant for an adult audience, The Thief was initially dismissed as unmarketable. After over twenty years of work, Williams had completed only twenty minutes of the film, and following the critical success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Williams sought and secured a production deal with Warner Bros. in 1990. However, the production went over deadline, and in 1992, with only 15 minutes left to complete, The Completion Bond Company, who had insured Warners' financing of the film, feared competition from the similarly themed Disney film Aladdin and seized the project from Williams in Camden, London.

Completion Bond then had the animation completed in Korea under the direction of animator Fred Calvert. New scenes were also animated to include several musical interludes. Calvert's product was released internationally in 1994 as The Princess and the Cobbler. Miramax then acquired rights to the project and extensively rewrote and re-edited the film to include continuous dialogue, as well as many cuts to lengthy sequences. Miramax's product was released in 1995 under the title Arabian Knight. Ever since its release and negative reception, Williams prefers not to discuss the film at all.

In 2006, a filmmaker, animator and fan of Williams' work named Garrett Gilchrist created an unofficial DVD titled The Thief and the Cobbler: The Recobbled Cut, featuring a restored version of the movie he edited himself based on Williams' original workprint, mixing the original audio track, finished scenes from the released versions, pencil tests, rare footage and pieces of the storyboard.