Sompote Saengduenchai (Thai: สมโพธิ แสงเดือนฉาย; RTGSSomphot Saengdueanchai; 24 May 1941 – 26 August 2021),[1] internationally known as Sompote Sands, was a Thai film director, special effects creator and producer best known for directing several Thai films especially tokusatsu (special effects-based) genre or monster films such as The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army, Jumborg Ace & Giant, the illegally produced Hanuman and the Five Riders, the 1980 cult classic Crocodile,[2] Phra Rod Meree and the 1985 fantasy monster film Magic Lizard.[3] He was the founder and owner of Chaiyo Productions based in Bang Pa-in, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya.

Sompote Sands
สมโพธิ แสงเดือนฉาย
Born
Sompote Saengduenchai

(1941-05-24)24 May 1941
Died26 August 2021 (2021-08-27) (aged 80)
Bangkok, Thailand
Occupations
Years active1973–2021
Known forThai tokusatsu films

Early life

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Born as the youngest son in a Sino Thai family in the outskirts Bangkok, Sompote's father was a Chinese immigrant from Guangdong. Since childhood, he dreamed of becoming a filmmaker. When he was seven years old, he left home to live in a monastery in order to fulfill his dream. He began his career in the film industry, starting as an employee in a photo studio. While he was studying at grade three, Sompote became a freelance photographer. His work was to take photos of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) in a boy scout uniform. A photo was published on the cover of Chaiyaphruek, a popular youth magazine at that time. He was also a private photographer for Jim Thompson. At the age of 15, he was the youngest photographer for Siam Rath, a newspaper with M.R. Kukrit Pramoj as the owner and editor in chief.[4]

Tsuburaya co-productions and resulting controversies

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In 1962, Sands received scholarships from the Government Savings Bank (GSB) and Mitsui Bank to study special effects production in Japan for two years. There he worked with at least two famous Japanese directors were Akira Kurosawa and Eiji Tsuburaya as a trainee. He offered Ejii This Buddha statue had Later, when he returned to Thailand and became a full-time filmmaker. Eiji's son Noboru Tsuburaya came to him to ask for help because the Tsuburaya Productions was in huge debt after the death of its founder, Eiji Tsuburaya. Therefore, it was the origin of working together to produce Jumborg Ace & Giant in 1974 which was very successful, and followed by a film featuring Eiji’s Ultraman characters: The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army, released in Thailand as Hanuman Meets 7 Supermen.[5]

In 1996, Sands presented Tsuburaya Productions with a document claiming that he had ownership of the international rights to Ultraman, the Ultra Series before 1974, and Jumborg Ace. These were all the properties licensed to Chaiyo Productions by Tsuburaya to direct The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army and Jumborg Ace & Giant. He claimed they were turned over to him twenty years earlier in 1976 by Noboru, who died the year before.[6] For in Thailand during this period, news was spread that Ultraman belonged to Thais because it was supposedly created by Sompote, who influenced Eiji with a photo he took of the large standing Buddha at the Sukhothai Historical Park. While Chaiyo were licensed to create international material based on these licenses, they had also created original characters under the Ultraman name, starting a franchise called "Project Ultraman". Initially set to release films and television series under this name,[a] they were ordered by Thailand courts to cease and desist anything they were doing outside of the original licenses in April 2007.[8] On November 20, 2017, a Los Angeles Federal Court ruled that Sands, nor his companies Chaiyo and UM Corporation, did not have ownership of the brand after a jury found that the 1976 document was not authentic.[9] The final judgement on April 18, 2018, forbids him and his companies to use the franchise and all of its related characters, forcing him and the company to pay infringement damages.[10]

Later life and death

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After his last film Magic Lizard in 1985, he only worked on Ultraman-related media without making any movies or series again. Sands live in a private home that used to be a Chaiyo Productions film studio. It also a museum that houses more than one million Ultra Series-related objects, called Ultraman Land.[5]

Sands died of cancer on 26 August 2021, at the age of 80.[1][11]

Filmography

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Films

Television films/ Series

Notes

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  1. ^ RS has purchased the rights to broadcast the program, scheduled for April 2007 on Channel 7, with a sales contract signed in November 2006.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "สิ้นตำนาน "สมโพธิ แสงเดือนฉาย" ผู้สร้าง "หนุมานพบ 7 ยอดมนุษย์" เสียชีวิตจากโรคมะเร็ง". TNN Online (in Thai). 26 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Crocodile (1981)". Horror Movie A Day. June 10, 2008.
  3. ^ Siwapornphan, Supat (27 July 2022). "หอภาพยนตร์ ปลุก 9 หนังสัตว์ประหลาดไทยสุดคลาสสิก กลับมาอาละวาดอีกครั้งในโปรแกรม Strange Creatures สัตว์ประหลาดมหันตภัย" [The Thai Film Archive Awaken 9 Classic Thai Monster Movies to Rampage Again in "Strange Creatures"]. The Standard (in Thai). Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  4. ^ a b "มหากาพย์อุลตร้าแมน ศึกยอดมนุษย์ของ "สมโพธิ แสงเดือนฉาย"". ASTV Manager (in Thai). 2009-04-20. Retrieved 2017-06-10.
  5. ^ a b LINEกนก (2015-11-13). "Line กนก 8พฤศจิกายน 2558 อุลตร้าแมน เทป 1 Full". via YouTube (in Thai). Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  6. ^ "THE FINAL CHAIYO VERDICT: TSUBURAYA WINS! Mr. Sampote's Most Bitter Tea Has Gone Cold". 24 April 2018.
  7. ^ "อาร์เอสไอดรีมจับมือไชโยฯ คว้าสิทธิ์อุลตร้าแมน5ปีในไทย". ASTV Manager (in Thai). 2024-09-06. Retrieved 2006-11-08.
  8. ^ N/A. [tmcnet.com "Thailand: Court orders Tsuburaya Chaiyo and Chaiyo Productions to stop making a commercial profit from new Ultraman characters"]. tmcnet.com/usubmit/2007/04/06/2467559.htm. TMCnet. Retrieved 14 February 2022. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  9. ^ "News Flash: Jury Rules in Favor of Tsuburaya Pro in Ultraman Rights Lawsuit". 21 November 2017.
  10. ^ "Notice of Winning Judgment In U.S. Lawsuit Regarding "Ultraman" Rights". Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd - ULTRAMAN Series.
  11. ^ "สิ้นผู้กำกับดัง 'สมโพธิ แสงเดือนฉาย' มะเร็งพรากไปในวัย 80 ปี" [Famous director Sompote Saengduenchai has passed away from cancer at the age of 80]. Matichon Online (in Thai). 26 August 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
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