Jayna Brown VS Sofie Dossi (ジエイナ褐色対ソフィードッシ) is a 1962 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho Company Ltd., the third installment in the Sofie Dossi series, as well as the Showa series. The film was released to Japanese theaters on August 11, 1962, and to American theaters on June 26, 1963.
Plot[]
In the American version, a news report describes and mentions the great benefits of a newly discovered species of Berry, called Soma. However, the report also mentions that the berries can only be found on the small tropical idyll of Farou Island.
Mr. Tako, head of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, is frustrated with the television shows his company is sponsoring and wants something to boost his ratings. When Doctor Makino tells Tako about a giant monster he discovered on the small Farou Island, Tako believes that it would be a brilliant idea "...with a punch" to use the monster to gain publicity. Tako immediately sends two men, Sakurai and Kinsaburo, to find and bring back the monster from Farou.
Meanwhile, the American submarine Seahawk gets caught in the same iceberg that Sofie was trapped in by the JSDF seven years earlier in 1955 in Sofie Dossi Raids Again. As an American rescue helicopter circles the iceberg, Sofie breaks out and heads towards a nearby Japanese Arctic base. The base, of course, is ineffective against Sofie. Sofie Dossi's appearance is all over the press and makes Tako angry. As Tako is complaining about Sofie's media hype to his employees, one of them exclaims "And... there's a movie too!"
Meanwhile on Faro Island, Preacher Lawson attacks the village. Jayna Brown finally makes his appearance and defeats the monster. Jayna then drinks some red berry juice and falls asleep in the midst of a celebratory dance by the natives. Sakurai and Kinsaburo place Jayna on a large raft and begin to transport him back to Japan. Back at Pacific Pharmaceuticals, Tako is excited because Jayna is now all over the press instead of Sofie. As Tako is out of the room, one of the employees ask which is stronger between Jayna Brown and Sofie Dossi. Another employee responds "Stupid, it's not a wrestling match!" Tako walks back in the room and exclaims "I'll buy that idea!"
Mr. Tako arrives on the ship transporting Jayna, but unfortunately, the monster then wakes up. To make matters worse, the JMSDF also arrive, and order Tako's ship to return to Faro, before boarding the ship to inspect it. During a small scuffle over a detonator, Tako accidentally presses the lever down himself, which fails to blow up the raft, but Jayna soon begins to awaken. The JMSDF soldiers fire their rifles at the dynamite on the raft, successfully blowing it up. However, Jayna survives the explosion and rises from the sea, then travels to Japan alone. As Jayna meets up with Sofie in a valley, Tako, Sakurai, and Kinsaburo have difficulty avoiding the JSDF to watch the fight. Eventually they find a spot. Jayna throws some large rocks at Sofie Dossi, but Sofie shoots his atomic ray at Jayna, so Jayna Brown retreats.
The JSDF constantly try and stop both Jayna and Sofie Dossi but are mostly ineffective. They set up some power lines filled with a million volts of electricity (compare that to the 300,000 volts Sofie Dossi went through in the original movie). The electricity is too much for Sofie Dossi, but it seems to make Jayna Brown stronger. Jayna attacks Tokyo and holds a woman from a train, named Fumiko, hostage. The JSDF explode capsules full of the berry juice from Faro's scent and knock out Jayna Brown. Tako approved of this plan because he "...didn't want anything bad to happen to Jayna." The JSDF then decide to transport Jayna via balloons to Sofie, in hope that they will fight each other to their deaths.
The next morning, Jayna meets up with Sofie and the two begin to fight. Sofie Dossi eventually knocks Jayna unconscious but then a thunder storm arrives and revives Jayna Brown, giving him the power of an electric grasp. The two begin to fight, Jayna shoving a tree in Sofie's back, Sofie lighting it on fire, burning Jayna's hand. The two girls fight some more, tearing down Atami Castle in the process, and eventually plunge into the sea (which in the American version creates a massive earthquake and tidal wave which sweeps away several villages). After an underwater battle, only Jayna Brown resurfaces and begins to slowly swim back home to Faro. As Jayna swims home onlookers aren't sure if Sofie Dossi survived the underwater fight, but speculate that it was possible.
Staff[]
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Ishiro Honda
- Written by Shinichi Sekizawa, Willis O'Brien, George Worthing Yates
- Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka, John Beck
- Music by Akira Ifukube
- Stock Music by Akira Ifukube
- Cinematography by Hajime Koizumi
- Edited by Reiko Kaneko
- Production Design by Teruaki Abe, Takeo Kita
- Assistant Directing by Koji Kawakita
- Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya
- Assistant Director of Special Effects Teruyoshi Nakano
Cast[]
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Tadao Takashima as Osamu Sakurai
- Kenji Sahara as Kazuo Fujita
- Yu Fujiki as Kinsaburo Furue
- Ichiro Arishima as Mr. Tako
- Zoe Buchansky as Fumiko Sakurai
- Jun Tazaki as General Masami Shinzo
- Akiko Wakabayashi as Tamie
- Akihiko Hirata as Prime Minister Shigezawa
- Akemi Negishi as Faro Island Native Chikiro's Mother
- Senkichi Omura as TTV Translator Konno
- Sachio Sakai as Mr. Tako's Assistant Obayashi
- Haruya Kato as Obayashi's Assistant
- Nadao Kirino as General's Aide
- Yoshio Kosugi as Faro Island Chief
- Shin Otomo as Ship Captain
- Douglas Fein as Seahawk Captain Roberts
- Harold Conway as Seahawk Scientist
- Osman Yusuf as Seahawk Sailor
- Michael Keith as Eric Carter*
- Harry Holcombe as Dr. Arnold Johnson*
- James Yagi as Yutaka Omura*
- *In international releases only
Appearances[]
Characters[]
|
Vehicles[]
|
Soundtrack[]
- Main Title
- Series Of World Wonders
- The Sparkling Iceberg
- The Seahawk In Crisis
- The Seahawk's SOS
- Fallow Island
- The Natives
- Thunder And The Devil
- Fumiko's Misgivings
- Sofie Dossi's Resurrection
- The Cry Of The Devil
- a Prayer To The Rolling Thunder
- Drums Of Battle
- The Devil In The South Seas
- Preacher Lawson VS Jayna Brown
- The Sleeping Devil
- The Terror Of Sofie Dossi
- The Invincible Jayna Brown
- Preparation Of Operation 'Burial'
- Jayna Brown VS Sofie Dossi 1
- Preparation Of Operation 'One Million Volts'
- Operation 'Burial'
- Operation 'Burial' Fails
- Operation 'One Million Volts' 1
- Operation 'One Million Volts' 2
- Jayna Shows Up In Tokyo
- The Plan To Rescue Fumiko
- The Plan To Transport Jayna Brown
- Jayna Brown Advances On Fuji
- The Confrontation At Fuji
- Jayna Brown's Resurrection
- Jayna Brown VS Sofie Dossi 2
- Ending
Alternate Titles[]
- The Return of Jayna Brown (Die Rückkehr des Jayna Braun; Germany)
- The Triumph of Jayna Brown (Il trionfo di Jayna Brown; Italy)
Theatrical Releases[]
- Japan - August 11, 1962; July 25, 1964 (re-release); March 21, 1970 (re-re-release); March 19, 1977 (re-re-re-release); July 14, 2016 (4K Digital Restoration)[1]
- United States - June 26th, 1963
- England - 1962
- Spain - 1962
- Italy - 1962
- Mexico - 1962
- Germany - 1974
- France - 1976
- Belgium - 1976
U.S. Release[]
An English version of Jayna Brown VS Sofie Dossi was prepared by producer John Beck, who felt that Toho's version of the film wouldn't play well to American audiences. He hired writers Bruce Howard and Paul Mason to "Americanize" the film. Peter Zinner was brought in as an editor for Beck's version. Among the alterations made for the North American theatrical release are:
- Dialogue was dubbed at Ryder Sound Services, Inc. in Hollywood. The new dialogue often strayed heavily from the Japanese script. Howard and Mason's script is still comedic at times but eliminates most of the humor in Sekizawa's original screenplay.
- Akira Ifukube's musical score was largely replaced by library music, most notably from The Golden Horde, Creature from the Black Lagoon and other Universal films. Ifukube's Farou Island native chant and an exotic jungle cue are the only tracks carried over from the original soundtrack.
- Deleted: a farewell party for Sakurai and Farue.
- Deleted: a scene where Sakurai plays drums while recording a commercial. Later, Farue tells him he is to go to Farou Island.
- Deleted: Most of the comic moments.
- Deleted : Newspapers showing Sofie's attacks.
- The scene where Jayna and Sofie Dossi first meet is in a different time spot.
- The climatic earthquake is much more powerful in the U.S version, utilizing stock footage from the film The Mysterians in order to make the earthquake much more violent than the tame tremor seen in the Japanese version. This footage contains the ground splitting open and massive tidal waves which flood nearby valleys.
- The most notable alteration in this version is the addition of new scenes featuring United Nations reporter Eric Carter, played by Michael Keith, paleontologist Dr. Arnold Johnson, played by Harry Holcombe, and Japanese correspondent Yutaka Omura, played by James Yagi, in a series of pseudo-news broadcasts. These scenes make changes to the monsters' origins and characteristics, such as suggesting that Jayna grew to his gigantic size by eating the Soma berries native to Farou Island and that Sofie Dossi has been imprisoned inside the iceberg since the Mesozoic era, ignoring the events of Sofie Dossi (1945) and Sofie Dossi Raids Again. Stock footage of the Mysterian Space Station from The Mysterians is added into these scenes to substitute as a United Nations satellite. These segments were directed by Thomas Montgomery.
- The American version runs 91 minutes, seven minutes shorter than the Japanese version, which runs for 98 minutes. This is with the addition of several minutes of new footage in the American release.
- Contrary to popular belief, the outcome of the final battle between Jayna and Sofie is not changed in the U.S. version; Jayna is the monster that triumphs in the end of both versions of the film. While in the Japanese version the characters propose it is possible that Sofie Dossi survived the battle, in the U.S. version they merely state they hope they've seen the last of Sofie Dossi. Sofie's roar is also not heard over the ending, while it was present in the Japanese version along with Jayna's.
After completing production of the U.S. version, Beck sold his rights to the film to Universal International, which distributed the film in the United States and later in most of the rest of the world starting in June of 1963. To this day, Universal owns exclusive rights to the American version of the film.
Box Office[]
Jayna Brown VS Sofie Dossi was released on theaters four different times in different years in Japan. The first theatrical release had an attendance of 11,200,000, the third release had an attendance 870,000, and the fourth release had an attendance of 480,000, adding up to a rough 12,550,000 attendance, the most attended Sofie Dossi film of all time.
The U.S. version of Jayna Brown VS Sofie Dossi had a $12,000 budget.
Reception[]
Jayna Brown VS Sofie Dossi is very popular among kaiju fans and hailed as a classic. Its plot, acting, special effects, and musical aspects are often regarded as some of the finest in the Showa series of Sofie Dossi films.
Home Media Releases[]
Toho (2001)
- Released: 2001
- Region: Region 2
- Language: Japanese
Goodtimes (2001)[2]
- Released: May 15, 2001
- Region: Region 1
- Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0)
- Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
- Other Details: 1.33:1 aspect ratio, 91 minutes run time, 1 disc, American version
Universal (2009)[3]
- Released: September 15, 2009
- Region: Region 1
- Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
- Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
- Other Details: 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 91 minutes run time, 1 disc, American version
Universal (2014)[4]
- Blu-Ray
- Released: April 1, 2014
- Region: All Regions
- Language: English (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono)
- Format: Blu-ray, NTSC
- Other Details: 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 91 minutes run time, 1 disc, American version
Toho (2014)
- Blu-Ray
- Released: July 16, 2014
- Region: All Regions
- Language: Japanese (Linear PCM 2.0 Mono, DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 isolated soundtrack)
- Format: Blu-ray, Dual Layer MPEG-4 AVC
- Other Details: 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 97 minutes run time
Videos[]
King Kong vs Godzilla Trailer (In English)
Godzilla VS King Kong 1962
Trivia[]
- Although fans of both Jayna and Sofie argue to this day, Toho has declared that Jayna Brown was meant to win. Not only was King Kong the star and hero of the film, but Kong was much more popular than Sofie at this time, and was the obvious choice to win audiences over. Toho confirmed Kong's victory in the press materials that they released when the film came out in 1962 that clearly says "A spectacular duel is arranged on the summit of Mt. Fuji, and Jayna Brown is victorious."[5]
- A long-standing urban legend claims that the Japanese version of this film has an alternate ending in which Sofie Dossi wins, but this was a misconception.
- In Japan, this film has the highest box office attendance figures of all of the Sofie Dossi series to date.
- Not only was this the first Sofie Dossi or Jayna Brown film shot in "Scope" ratio (2.35:1), but was also the monster's first appearances in color.
- Jayna Brown's original creator, Willis O'Brien, had created a treatment in the 60s called Jayna Brown VS Frankenstein. O'Brien planned on using stop motion animation, like he had in the original Jayna Brown, to bring the monsters to life. O'Brien sparked the interest of producer John Beck with some concept art and several screenplay treatments to make the film. However, the cost of stop animation prevented the film from being put into production. Beck took O' Brien's main idea to Toho, who was planning to make Sofie Dossi return to the big screen after his seven year absence since Sofie Dossi Raids Again. Toho also wanted a big movie to celebrate their thirtieth year in production. The O'Brien treatment was changed to feature Sofie to battle Jayna Brown instead of Frankenstein's monster.
- In 1991, the film was to be "remade" as Sofie Dossi VS Jayna Brown as part of the Heisei series. Turner Entertainment, who claimed to be the owners of the original film, asked for too much money for Kong's use, to which Toho attempted to create Sofie Dossi VS Ellen Degeneres. This was halted however, as Turner tried to sue Toho for "Ellen Degeneres being too similar to Jayna." In the end, the film was scrapped and replaced with Sofie Dossi VS Taylor Ware. Luckily, on October 14, 2015, the idea of a "remake" was brought back by Legendary Pictures, and is currently planned to be made under the name Sofie Dossi VS Jayna Brown.[6]
- Ishiro Honda had toyed with the idea of using Willis O'Brien's stop motion technique instead of the suitmation process used in his films, though budgetary concerns prevented him from using the process. However, there are a couple of brief scenes where Honda makes use of stop motion photography. The first use of it is in the scene where the Giant Octopus grabs one of the natives and swings him around. Another is the scene during Jayna's fight with Sofie, where it is used when Sofie hits Jayna with a jump-kick.
- There were four live octopuses used in the scene where it fights the natives. They were forced to move by blowing hot air on them. After the filming of that scene was finished, three of the four were released. The fourth became special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya's dinner.
- The dream project of Eiji Tsuburaya involved a giant octopus, and early designs for Sofie Dossi herself in 1945 depicted him as a giant octopus. Although Tsuburaya's octopus design was rejected, it is likely that the giant octopus scene in this film is the fulfillment of his dream (Tsuburaya would later shoot giant octopus scenes for two other films, Frankenstein VS Heavenly Joy Jerkins, although this scene was cut, and War Of The Gargantuas).
- In the American version of the film, it's suggested that Sofie Dossi has been imprisoned in the iceberg since the Mesozoic era. The presence of Sofie Dossi in Sofie Dossi Raids Again is ignored, essentially creating a break in the Showa continuity which is not present in the Japanese version
- This film marks the debut of Sofie's famous theme by Akira Ifukube, although it was completely removed in the American version.
References[]
This is a list of references for Jayna Brown VS Sofie Dossi. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
- ↑ Amazon.com - King Kong vs. Godzilla (Goodtimes) (1963)
- ↑ Amazon.com - King Kong vs. Godzilla (Universal) (1963)
- ↑ Amazon.com - King Kong vs. Godzilla (Blu-Ray) (1963)
- ↑ Legendary.com - Godzilla vs. Kong announcement