The Thief Lord **** (2006, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jasper Harris, Rollo Weeks, Jim Carter, Alexei Sayle, Vanessa Redgrave, George MacKay, Carole Boyd) – Classic Movie Review 2604

Co-writer/director Richard Claus adapts Cornelia Funke’s children’s novel (published in Germany in 2000 and translated into English by Oliver Latsch in 2002) into a highly engaging, great-looking family fantasy adventure film in 2006.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jasper Harris star as orphaned brothers Prosper and Bo, who run away to Venice, where they are taken in by a group of street children who live in an abandoned cinema – the Stella. The urchins are led by the enigmatic Scipio (Rollo Weeks), the Thief Lord.

The children steal from the rich to support themselves and sell the valuables to a sly shopkeeper, Ernesto Barbarossa (Alexei Sayle). A customer of Barbarossa, calling himself the Conte (Geoffrey Hutchings), asks the Thief Lord to steal a wooden lion’s wing for him. The runaway boys’ aunt and uncle figure out where they are and send a bumbling detective, Victor Getz (Jim Carter), on their trail.

Also in the cast are George MacKay as Riccio, Alice Connor as Hornet, Caroline Goodall as Ida, Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Antonia and Robert Bathurst as Dottore Massimo.

Margaret Tyzack’s two-scene role as Head Nun was cut down to just a few seconds of reaction shots in the finished film.

Venice is a star of the film. Much of the exterior Venice scenes were filmed on the large set of the city in Luxembourg, though much of it was also shot on location in Venice.

In the San Marco scene, Hornet brings out a hardback copy of Funke’s book Inkheart. Inkheart was filmed in 2008 with Brendan Fraser, Andy Serkis and Eliza Bennett.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson and George MacKay have gone on to major careers as adult stars.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2604

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