The Thief Lord (film)

Last updated

The Thief Lord
Thief lord poster.jpg
German theatrical release poster
Directed byRichard Claus
Written by Cornelia Funke (novel)
Richard Claus
Daniel Musgrave
Produced byRichard Claus
Starring Aaron Johnson
Jasper Harris
Alice Connor
Rollo Weeks
George MacKay
CinematographyDavid Slama
Edited byPeter R. Adam
Music byNigel Clarke
Michael Csányi-Wills
Production
companies
Thema Production
Comet Film Produktion GmbH
Delux Productions
Future Films
Distributed by Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany
Release date
  • 5 January 2006 (2006-01-05)(Germany)
Running time
98 minutes
CountriesLuxembourg
United Kingdom
Germany
LanguageEnglish
Box office$5,141,916

The Thief Lord is a 2006 family drama film directed by Richard Claus. The screenplay was written by Richard Claus and Daniel Musgrave, based on the 2000 novel of the same title, by German author Cornelia Funke. It was a joint production of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., Future Films Limited, Comet Film, and Thema Production and is distributed by Warner Bros. The DVD was released on 14 March 2006 and the one-disc edition includes a theatrical trailer that ran in theatres in Europe and Mosca's cartoon from the film by itself.

Contents

The film follows two recently orphaned brothers, Bo (Jasper Harris) and Prosper (Aaron Johnson), dumped in the care of a cruel aunt and uncle, who escape their impending separation by running off to Venice. Hiding in the canals and alleyways of the city, the boys are befriended by a gang of young urchins and their enigmatic masked leader, the Thief Lord (Rollo Weeks).

Plot

When Prosper and Boniface's parents die, their aunt Esther plans to adopt six-year-old Bo and send 12-year-old Prosper away to boarding school. But before she can separate the two, Prosper takes Bo to Venice, the city about which their mother had often told them stories. In Venice, the boys meet the Thief Lord, a mask-wearing teenager named Scipio. The Thief Lord invites the boys to come to his hideout, an abandoned cinema called the Stella, which is also home to three orphaned children Scipio has rescued: Hornet, Riccio, and Mosca. Meanwhile, the boys' aunt and uncle, Esther and Max Hartlieb have traveled to Venice to find their nephews and hired Victor Getz to help.

Scipio's newest client, a mysterious man known as the Conte, asks them to steal a wooden wing, a fragment of the long-lost merry-go-round of the Merciful Sisters. Scipio asks the gang to help stake out the mansion where the wing is kept while he goes away for a few days. Getz discovers that Scipio is not a poor orphan at all, but the son of the wealthy Dr. Massimo. When Scipio doesn't show up for the stakeout the next day, the gang is confused. They find out that Scipio has lied to them about being an orphan and that all his 'loot' is from his father's house.

When the gang go to steal the wooden wing, they accidentally wake the owner of the house, Ida Spavento. Ida agrees to let them take the wing so long as she comes with them. She takes them to the convent of the Merciful Sisters, where they learn the mystical secret of the merry-go-round: children who ride it become adults, and adults become children. Scipio takes them all on a boat to meet the Conte. The transaction goes off without a hitch.

Barbarossa, the antique dealer who serves as the gang's fence, leads police to the Stella, where they take Hornet and Bo and close down the Stella. Prosper and the others return to find Hornet and Bo gone. Thinking Getz sold them out, they confront him. Getz insists he is on their side, then tells them that the money the Conte gave them is fake. Ida and Getz get Hornet from the Merciful Sisters, with whom the police have left her, and Ida allows the gang to stay at her place. That night, Scipio sneaks out of his father's mansion and persuades Prosper to come with him to ride the merry-go-round and become an adult.

Bo returns to the Stella. Getz finds Bo and brings him back to Ida's house. Meanwhile, the Conte and his sister the Contessa are now children, having ridden the merry-go-round. The Conte offers a ride on the merry-go-round as payment in lieu of money. Scipio and Barbarossa take the offer. Scipio becomes an adult and Barbarossa a young child.

Prosper is reunited with Bo. The now-adult Scipio becomes Getz's new partner in the detective business. The aunt and uncle try to snatch Bo until Scipio returns and forces them out at gunpoint. Riccio and Mosca take the money they deserve from Barbarossa's safe and split it amongst the gang. Scipio uses his share to buy the boys a boat and establishes bank accounts for the others. In the final scene, Victor, Ida, Prosper, Hornet, and Bo are on Scipio's old boat. Ida comments that they would make a great family.

Cast

Reception

The film has a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. [1] Will Wade of Common Sense Media awarded the film four stars out of five. [2] Neil Smith of the BBC awarded the film two stars out of five. [3] Jo Berry of Empire awarded it two stars. [4] Damon Smith of the Bournemouth Daily Echo awarded the film three stars. [5] Sloan Freer of Radio Times awarded the film two stars out of five. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Johnny Belinda</i> (1948 film) 1948 American film

Johnny Belinda is a 1948 American drama film, directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the 1940 Broadway stage hit of the same name by Elmer Blaney Harris. The play was adapted for the screen by writers Allen Vincent and Irma von Cube.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pickpocketing</span> Type of larceny involving theft from pockets

Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection. A thief who works in this manner is known as a pickpocket.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gentleman thief</span> Stock character; a sophisticated and well-mannered thief

A gentleman thief, gentleman burglar, lady thief, or phantom thief is a stock character in fiction. A gentleman or lady thief is characterised by impeccable manners, charm, courteousness, and the avoidance of physical force or intimidation to steal, and often has inherited wealth. They steal not only to gain material wealth but also for the thrill of the act itself, which is often combined in fiction with correcting a moral wrong, selecting wealthy targets, or stealing only particularly rare or challenging objects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Wild</span> 18th century English criminal

Jonathan Wild, also spelled Wilde, was a London underworld figure notable for operating on both sides of the law, posing as a public-spirited vigilante entitled the "Thief-Taker General". He simultaneously ran a significant criminal empire, and used his crimefighting role to remove rivals and launder the proceeds of his own crimes.

<i>The Charterhouse of Parma</i> Novel by Stendhal

The Charterhouse of Parma is a novel by French writer Stendhal, published in 1839. Telling the story of an Italian nobleman in the Napoleonic era and later, it was admired by Balzac, Tolstoy, André Gide, Lampedusa, Henry James, and Ernest Hemingway. It was inspired by an inauthentic Italian account of the dissolute youth of Alessandro Farnese. The novel has been adapted for opera, film and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves</span> Folk tale in One Thousand and One Nights

"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" is a folk tale in Arabic added to the One Thousand and One Nights in the 18th century by its French translator Antoine Galland, who heard it from Syrian storyteller Hanna Diyab. As one of the most popular Arabian Nights tales, it has been widely retold and performed in many media across the world, especially for children.

<i>A World Without Thieves</i> 2004 Chinese film

A World Without Thieves is a 2004 Chinese comedy action drama film directed by Feng Xiaogang and starring Andy Lau, Rene Liu, Ge You, Wang Baoqiang and Li Bingbing. The film is an adaptation of a 1999 novelette of the same title by Zhao Benfu. The original story is moderately different from the film adaptation. The film was first released in Shanghai, China on 5 December 2004. It clinched the 2005 Golden Horse Award for Best Screenplay Adaptation.

<i>New Police Story</i> 2004 Hong Kong film

New Police Story is a 2004 Hong Kong action thriller film produced and directed by Benny Chan, starring Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse, Charlie Yeung, Charlene Choi, Daniel Wu and Wang Chieh. The film was released in the Hong Kong on 24 September 2004.

<i>The Thief Lord</i> 2000 novel by Cornelia Funke

The Thief Lord is a children's novel written by Cornelia Funke. It was published in Germany in 2000 and translated into English by Oliver Latsch in 2002 for The Chicken House, a division of Scholastic publishing company. It was Funke's first novel published in the United States and was adapted into a film in 2006.

<i>Ali Baba Bujang Lapok</i> 1961 film by P. Ramlee

Ali Baba Bujang Lapok is a 1961 Singapore Malay-language black-and-white comedy film directed by, written by and starring Malaysian silver-screen legend P. Ramlee and produced in Singapore by Malay Film Productions Ltd. Based loosely on the story of Ali Baba from 1001 Arabian Nights, the film is occasionally self-referential and contains elements of anarchic comedy, burlesque comedy, satire and farce. The title includes the suffix Bujang Lapok because it is the third instalment in the Bujang Lapok series of comedy films that star the trio of P. Ramlee, S. Shamsuddin and Aziz Sattar. This film marked the feature film debut of Sarimah, who would go on to a long movie career, and is also notable as one of the few P. Ramlee films where he plays the villain.

The Dinner Set Gang was a gang of thieves who became notorious in the late 1960s and 1970s for their burglaries of the homes of the wealthiest Americans while the victims were at home eating dinner. Newspapers in New York City and Florida nicknamed them "The Dinner Set Gang".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Twist (character)</span> Title character and the protagonist of the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist is the title character and protagonist of the 1838 novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. He was the first child protagonist in an English novel.

<i>Liquidation</i> (miniseries) Russian television series

Liquidation (2007) is a highly popular Russian television series, which parallels the famous The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed with notable ethical shift. In the "Meeting Place", chief of criminal investigations Gleb Zheglov had a modus operandi "Thief must go to prison, no matter how I put him there".

<i>Nijū Mensō no Musume</i> Television series

Nijū Mensō no Musume is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by manga author Shinji Ohara. The manga was serialized in the seinen manga magazine Comic Flapper between 2003 and 2007, but continued serialization in the same magazine with the title Nijū Mensō no Musume Utsushiyo no Yoru since October 5, 2007. An anime adaptation aired in Japan from April 12, 2008, to September 27, 2008, and was co-produced by Bones and Telecom Animation Film.

Cat Royal is a series of 6 historical fiction adventure books by Julia Golding, a British novelist.

<i>Stella Maris</i> (1918 film) 1918 film directed by Marshall Neilan

Stella Maris is a 1918 American silent drama film directed by Marshall Neilan, written by Frances Marion and based on William John Locke's 1913 novel of the same name. The film stars Mary Pickford in dual roles as the title character and an orphan servant.

<i>Almost Human</i> (1974 film) 1974 Italian crime film by Umberto Lenzi

Almost Human is a 1974 Italian noir-poliziotteschi film directed by Umberto Lenzi. This film stars Tomas Milian, Henry Silva, Ray Lovelock and Anita Strindberg.

<i>I Was an Adventuress</i> 1940 American film

I Was an Adventuress is a 1940 American drama film directed by Gregory Ratoff, starring Vera Zorina, Richard Greene, Erich von Stroheim, and Peter Lorre. Actress/ballerina Countess Tanya Vronsky works as decoy for two international con artists Andre Desormeaux and Polo.

<i>Sivappu Manjal Pachai</i> 2019 film directed by Sasi

Sivappu Manjal Pachai is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Sasi. The film stars Siddharth, G. V. Prakash Kumar, Lijomol Jose, and Kashmira Pardeshi, and marks the Tamil film debuts of both Lijomol and Pardeshi. The film is produced by Ramesh P. Pillai under the banner of Abhishek Films. Principal photography of the film commenced in July 2018. The film was released on 6 September 2019 to positive reviews and become a decent hit.

References

  1. "The Thief Lord". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  2. Wade, Will. "The Thief Lord". Common Sense Media . Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  3. Smith, Neil (23 May 2006). "The Thief Lord (2006)". BBC . Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  4. Berry, Jo (27 April 2006). "The Thief Lord Review". Empire . Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  5. Smith, Damon (21 July 2006). "The Thief Lord (PG) ***". Bournemouth Daily Echo . Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  6. Freer, Sloan. "The Thief Lord". Radio Times . Retrieved 19 July 2020.