“But what have I got if I haven’t got those awards? I’ve got nothing. I got the building and the staff that’s in it, you know, and an unmade picture.” – Richard Williams
It says something about the ultimate fate of Richard Williams’ long-gestated project The Thief and the Cobbler that I only heard about it a month or so before watching this documentary, which follows its inception, prolonged pre-production and final, disastrous animation phase.
Persistence of Vision tells the story of Williams starting his London-based animation studio in the 1960s, becoming a prolific, award-winning commercials animator, before boldly attempting a long-form feature animated film. Kevin Schreck’s documentary takes the stance that The Thief and the Cobbler is a lost masterpiece, a work of genius that the public can now only see glimpses of in either the studio-completed release, or the rough workprint that Williams produced before production was taken over by a completion bond company.
I feel that pre-empting what the viewer would take from this story was jumping the gun a little, as coming to it relatively cold and only knowing the basics of what happened before my viewing, I found my reaction to it a little different.
But, although the documentary is selling Williams’ film as a lost artwork, it balances things out by detailing his out-of-control perfectionism, naïve vision and surprisingly poor planning skills. Assertions of a Dickensian-style workplace are perhaps objective, as other artists who worked on the project don’t seem as traumatised and bitter as others, however the message is clear: Williams saw his talented crew as a mere means to an end, squandering their contributions and ultimately taking personal and professional credit for their work.
Hey, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Remember that George Lucas guy? No, me neither. Anyway…
The agonising thing you realise while watching the Williams-directed The Thief and the Cobbler footage is how dated his visual style looks. It’s too intricate and detailed for the eye to cope with and fully appreciate when animated, and seems mired in flower power-era flourishes that now appear grotesque. When PoV shows you clips of Disney’s Aladdin, which allegedly ripped-off The Thief and the Cobbler, it feels like a breath of fresh air – its designs are simpler and more elegant, while the backgrounds uncluttered and striking. Williams’ vision was not only thirty years in the making but thirty years behind the times – an amazing revelation considering his groundbreaking work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Much like with the similarly themed documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune, we are treated to a fascinating and often inspiring “what if?” story but, when you stop to think about it for a second, you realise that maybe we dodged a bullet by not being given Williams’ final product. The man failed to lock down a script to work from, storyboard his film properly or employ a counterbalancing producer to reign him in and tell him when to stop. Apparently, he refused to be interviewed for PoV, and I think I understand why. This was all his fault, and he probably knows it.
If anything, this is a lesson in the importance of not listening so much to someone’s fast talk and confidence, which Williams seemed to have far more of than he did a clear, defined vision. In fact, by the end, one of the animators tells us that, at best, The Thief and the Cobbler probably would have been received by the public as a novel experimental piece, rather than a family-friendly blockbuster. Williams might have been better off taking a step back and acting as the film’s producer, rather than being its creative force. His energetic hyperbole is just what a costly production needs.
Persistence of Vision is a valuable and worthwhile documentary, but prepare yourself to feel more frustrated at its obsessive protagonist than sympathetic. And also slightly confused, sadly at how horrid The Thief and the Cobbler actually looks, despite what you’re constantly being told.
But, as the title suggests, this isn’t a film about whether a man’s vision is misguided or not – it’s about its persistence.
You can buy Persistence of Vision on DVD here: http://kevinschreck.com/#persistence-of-vision-on-dvd
