The Last Unicorn (partially found deleted "Princess Alison" scene; 1982)

One of the animation cels of Princess Alison

Status: Partially Found/Lost

The Last Unicorn is a 1982 cult classic animated fantasy film based on a book of the same name by author Peter S. Beagle. The film was directed and produced by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass. It follows the journey of the titular Unicorn looking for the rest of her kind after their mysterious disappearance.

There are a few deleted scenes found within storyboards for the film, but one may have been most likely fully animated and then cut from the film for unknown reasons.

Description

A greyscale image of an animation cel showing the Princess riding off on Schmendrick's black horse ^[1]

This deleted scene features a character only seen in the book, Princess Alison Jocelyn, a princess running away from home after her father was murdered by her uncle. She is told by Schmendrick the Magician to go to the character Prince Lir as his role as hero will suit her situation better^[2].

The scenes from The Last Unicorn being referenced, warning for louder audio.

Within the film itself, during this scene near the end of the movie, after Prince Lir leaves his friends there is an awkward cut around the 1:46 timestamp. After helping Molly Grue onto her horse, Schmendrick suddenly looks off in the distance surprised. Then the scene dramatically cuts with the black horse they previously had gone. The existence of storyboards, production sketches, and animation cels^[3] featuring Princess Alison riding off on the black horse implies that this scene was meant to take place there.

The scene was most likely cut for time and flow of the story. The scene possibly could still be found, but has yet to be released.