Ancient Web: Richard Williams’ Son Reviewed the Film His Father Lost

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.

A film review is normally an outsider's verdict. In March 1997, Animation World Magazine published something harder to classify: a review of The Thief and the Cobbler by the director's son, who had worked on the film himself.

Read Alex Williams' 1997 article.

Alex Williams was responding to the home-video release of a version assembled after his father Richard Williams lost control of his long-running project. He had not previously seen that release. The magazine's editor explained that the film had briefly reached American theaters in 1995 as Arabian Knight and was now being sold under its original title.

Alex's reaction was scathing. His article contrasts the original conception, influenced by Persian and Middle Eastern miniature art, with the later version's added songs, narration, and changes to characterization. He particularly objects to giving dialogue to the Thief and the Cobbler, characters whose silence had been central to the original design.

A first-person record of an unfinished film

The article is valuable because its author had been close to the production. He describes the elaborate hand-drawn animation and the scale of the final war-machine sequence. He also recounts Warner Bros.' involvement, the role of completion-bond financiers, and the eventual work organized by Fred Calvert after the original production was interrupted.

That is Alex Williams' perspective on contentious industry events, not a neutral arbitration of every participant's motives. Its sharp judgments should be attributed to him rather than treated as uncontested production history.

The accompanying 1997 page also documents the older publishing context. It belongs to Animation World Magazine, Issue 1.12, with photographs, a small credits list, an editor's introduction, and ordinary links back to the issue index. This is long-form specialist criticism preserved in its original webzine setting, not a retrospective assembled decades later.

The article says its author was then working at Warner Bros. Feature Animation and teaching at CalArts. Those contemporary biographical notes date the writing as effectively as the issue header.

The film has since inspired restorations, research, and extensive discussion. What this page uniquely retains is the reaction of someone who watched the original work being made and confronted an altered version soon after release.

Read the original magazine essay.

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.