Sompote Sands

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Sompote Saengduenchai (Thai: สมโพธิ แสงเดือนฉาย; RTGS: Somphot Saengdueanchai; 24 May 1941 – 26 August 2021),^{[citation needed]} 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,^[1] Phra Rod Meree and the 1985 children's film Magic Lizard.^[2] He was the founder of Chaiyo Productions.

Early life[]

Born as the youngest son in a Thai Chinese family in the outskirts Bangkok, Sompote's father was a Chinese immigrant from Guangdong. While he was studying at grade three, Sompote became a freelance photographer. His work was to take photos of King Bhumibol in a boy scout uniform. A photo was published on the cover of Chaiyaphruek, a 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.^[3]

Tsuburaya co-productions and resulting controversies[]

In 1996, Sands presented Tsuburaya Productions with a document claiming that he had ownership if the international rights of Ultraman, the Ultra Series before 1974, and Jumborg Ace. These were all the properties used by Sands to direct the films 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 the patriarch of the Tsuburaya brand, Noboru Tsuburaya, who died the year before.^[4] On November 20, 2017, a Los Angeles Federal Court ruled that he did not have ownership of the brand after a jury found that the 1976 document was not authentic.^[5] The final judgement on April 18, 2018, forbids him and his companies to use the Ultra Franchise and all of its related characters, forcing him and the company to pay infringement damages.^[6]

Death[]

Sands died on August 26, 2021, of cancer at the age of 80.^[7]

Filmography[]

Films

• Tah Tien (1973)
• Jumborg Ace & Giant (Yuk Wud Jaeng Vs. Jumbo A) (1974)
• The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army (Hanuman pob Jed Yodmanud) (1974)
• Hanuman and the Five Riders (Hanuman pob Har Aimoddaeng) (1974) (A controversial production that was made without the consent of the creators of the Kamen Rider series.)
• Yod Manut Computer (1977)
• Land of Grief (Pandin Wippayoke) (1978)
• Ka Ki (1980)
• Crocodile (Chorakhe) (1980)
• Kraithong (1980)
• Phra Rod Meree (1981)
• Khun Chang Khun Phaen: Prab Chorakhe Tan Kwand (1982)
• Phra Chao Suea Panthai-Norasing (1982)
• Noble War (Suek Kumphakan) (1984)
• Space Warriors 2000 (Hanuman pop Sib-et Yodmanud) (1984)
• Kraithong II (1985)
• Magic Lizard (King-ka kay-a-sit) (1985)

Television films/ Series

• Kraithong (1972) Channel 7
• Phra Aphai Mani (1973) Channel 3
• Yai Ka Ta
• Long Prai
• Project Ultraman (suspended broadcast due to court judgment^[3])

References[]

External links[]

• Sompote Sands at IMDb