An Evening of Cult Animations of Arabian Nights: ‘The Thief and The Cobbler’ and ‘The Adventures of Prince Achmed’

THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER [RECOBBLED CUT] (aka Arabian Knight, Princess and the Cobbler) (1993/2007): This is one of the most striking animated films you’ve probably never heard of. It’s convoluted production circumstances (detailed briefly here, from, of all places, the film’s IMDB trivia page) partially account for why:

Originally conceived by Richard Williams as an attempt to make the greatest animated film of all time, it later became his own “reason for living.” After failing to secure funds from private investors or a studio to make the film, Williams decided to finance the film on his own, taking small jobs on television commercials or Saturday morning cartoons and using the proceeds to hire his own group of animators. The production moved in fits and starts until the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988 ) allowed Williams to make a deal with Warner Bros. to finance and distribute the film. As the production continued, however, it became obvious that Williams would not meet the 1991 release date originally set by the studio due to numerous delays, not the least of which were the director’s insistence on absolute perfection and hesitation in using storyboards–two circumstances which often resulted in whole sequences being scrapped and re-shot. With Warner Bros. nervous over the release of Disney’s Aladdin (1992), which [more than closely] resembled The Thief and the Cobbler (1993) in story, tone and style (many of the animators on the Disney feature had also worked for Richard Williams), the studio turned over completion of the film to the Completion Bond Company, which promptly fired Richard Williams and brought on animator Fred Calvert to finish the film as cheaply and quickly as possible. Calvert heavily re-edited the film and altered the story, bringing in Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Beals and Jonathan Winters to re-dub the lead characters. Eventually distributed by Miramax, the film was cut even further before debuting in theaters. Though bootleg copies of Richard Williams’ original work-print continue to circulate and several restoration attempts have been proposed, an official “Directors Cut” has yet to be released.

That’s necessarily compressed… There are plenty of longer accounts out there, with even more heartbreaking trivia (the first DVD release of the film was a pan & scan print of the Miramax cut, issued as a givaway in specially marked boxes of Froot Loops, for instance). We will not be watching any of the butchered officially released cuts, but instead the “recobbled cut” put together with the magic resources of the internet by fan/animator Garrett Gilchrist. This new version uses the Williams workprint as its source, both for soundtrack and sequencing, using laserdisc elements, storyboards and animation tests to fill in the gaps. I (and more than a few other folks, natch) feel the result is truly sensational… but I’ll let you judge for yourself.

as well as:

THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED (Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed) (1926): I saw this showing at the recent Phillips Collection “Société Anonyme” dada/surrealist exhibit. It blew my mind, and is just as breathtaking in sustained viewing as it was at my first glimpse. It was made by avante-garde German animator Lotte Reiniger, sometimes pal of German silent director Paul Wegener (Der Golem), and a member of the Weimar-era art scene in her own right.  This is one of the earliest surviving animated feature films, predating Snow White by some fifteen years. It’s silent, and it’s done in an Asian shadow-puppet style, rather than the more traditional animation on display in Thief and the Cobbler, but that’s a large part of its beauty. It also runs just over an hour, so as part of a double bill, it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

with special intermission cartoon shorts:

Ub Iwerks’ Willy Whopper in “INSULTIN’ THE SULTAN” and “ALI BABA” (1934 and 1936, respectively): Ub Iwerks was Walt Disney’s right-hand man. He’s the one who animated the early Mickey Mouse shorts, he’s the one who came up with the Silly Symphonies concept, and as animation in its golden age became an easy way to make lots of money, he left Disney and started his own competing studio. After a few years and some bad breaks, he ended up back at Disney, where he continued to quietly do much of the important work behind the scenes (he was the head of the “imagineering” department, which designed and made the robots for the theme parks) as well as doing special effects work for others (he got an Academy Award nomination for his effects work on Hitchcock’s The Birds). These are a pair of short cartoons from the brief heyday of his studio. They’re more Fleischer-zany than Disney or Warners ‘toons are, but are more fun for it. It’s also worth keeping in mind that these were made during the ’30s, and as a result, aren’t especially…ah, tolerant.

An Evening of Vintage Experimental Animated Science Fiction: Fantastic Planet b/w “Mars and Beyond”

FANTASTIC PLANET (La Planète Sauvage) (1973): Those who stuck around some after KISS last time saw the first minute or so of this one, and a trailer, and thus know some of what to expect; others may remember the trailer when I showed it before TRON in the spring. Regardless, the rather deadpan preview doesn’t quite prepare the first-time viewer for this one. This is the first full-length film from French science fiction animator René Laloux (who would go on to make the films Time Masters and Light Years before dying a few years ago), in collaboration with French cartoonist Roland Topor (the French Ralph Steadman, collaborator with Laloux on “The Snails,” also shown last time, as well as the force behind the infamous Marquis). Fantastic Planet is often called a political allegory (about the Russians invading Czechoslavakia in 1968), though it’s best remembered for its surreal, almost hallucinatory visuals and attention to zoological detail, as well as its both ethereal and break-ready soundtrack. This is one of the few science fiction films out there that lives up to the high bar set by its print counterparts.

Here’s how Anchor Bay’s release from a few years ago describes the film:

“Winner of the 1973 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix Award, Fantastic Planet is an allegorical tale about the struggle for freedom of a race of humanoid creatures called Oms. The Oms live on the far away planet of Ygam, ruled by a society of blue-skinned giants called Draags, who keep the Oms as domesticated pets for their children. But when [an Om named Terr] manages to escape with a Draag knowledge device, he unites a society of wild Oms to use the knowledge and revolt against their exploitative treatment.”

to be preceded by:

“Mars and Beyond” (1957): Originally aired in 1957 as part of the quasi-educational “Man in Space” series on the Disneyland TV show (later the Wonderful World of Disney), this segment contains both serious “educational” content, and more wheimiscal slapstick material. Of particular interest is that the program is almost entirely (and quite lushly!) animated — in styles ranging from the comical, to deco-abstract, to pulp-magazine glossy, and most stops in between. This one’s a real treat. Directed by Ward Kimball, the Chuck Jones of the Disney studio. Watch for the cameo from everyone’s favorite Nazi rocket scientist himself, Werner von Braun!

An Evening of Film About Guilt and Transportation: Zentropa b/w “T.R.A.N.S.I.T”

Zentropa (Europa) (1991): (Description from Wikipedia) “Europa (also known as Zentropa), is Lars von Trier’s third theatrical feature film, released in 1991. Co-written by von Trier and Niels Vorsel, it tells the story of a young, idealistic American who hopes to “show some kindness” to the German people soon after the end of World War II. In US-occupied Germany, he takes work as a sleeping car conductor for the Zentropa railway network, falls in love with a femme fatale, and becomes embroiled in a pro-Nazi terrorist conspiracy.

The film, which was released worldwide as Europa but was called Zentropa in America in order to avoid confusion with Europa Europa, won three awards at the Cannes Film Festival (Best Artistic Contribution, Jury Prize, and Technical Grand Prize). Upon realizing that he did not win the Palme d’Or, von Trier gave the judges the finger and stormed out of the venue.

The film employs an experimental style of cinema; combining largely black and white visuals with occasional intrusions of colour (two years before Schindler’s List featured the same effect), having actors interact with rear-projected footage, and layering different images over one another to surreal effect. The film’s characters, music, dialogue, and plot are self-consciously melodramatic and ironically imitative of film noir conventions.

von Trier’s production company, Zentropa Entertainments, is named after the sinister railway network featured in this film.”

to be preceded by

“T.R.A.N.S.I.T” (1997): A review from the net: “Brilliant and inspired animated film from Dutch animator Piet Kroon. Each chapter in this mystery is introduced by a sticker on a suitcase, the artwork on the sticker indicates the art style of its chapter, and the story plays out in reverse chronological order – sort of like Memento meets Waking Life.”