![]() As it went through iteration after iteration over its three decades of development (by my count, it had 10 different working titles over the years, some repeated), it served as a palimpsest and training ground for a new generation of animators. It was the last great hand-drawn animated film, and the final film of many of the greatest animators of the golden age: men whose careers stretched back to Fantasia and Betty Boop. The Thief And The Cobbler should have been the capstone achievement of one of Great Britain’s finest animators. At the place where these three kinds of stories intersect is Richard Williams and his monumental unfinished masterpiece, The Thief And The Cobbler. Now a third kind of story: the leader of the mad, obsessive, doomed enterprise, dragging a crew down with him: Ahab and Aguirre, Don Quixote and Lord Cardigan. This is Terry Gilliam’s, and Erich Von Stroheim’s, and Orson Welles’, over and over again. Here’s another story, just as popular: the great artist’s work, taken away and vandalized by the vulgarians of the marketplace. This is Henry Darger’s story, and Vivian Maier’s, and James Hampton’s. It’s the one where the hero works long hours at a tedious job to pay the bills, but every penny, every free minute, every lunch break and day off and late night, is spent dreaming and working and building a secret masterpiece.
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