Axis International

Axis International was a dubbing studio based in Hong Kong which specialized in dubbing Japanese, Chinese, and Hong Kong films, Mostly from Toho, Shaw Brothers, and Golden Harvest. They were most famous for being the very first dubbing studio in Hong Kong, as well as dubbing every Godzilla film made in the 1970s. Other notable works include Gamera Vs. Barugon, Gamera Vs. Gyaos, Prophecies of Nostradamus, The Dragon Lives Again, Space Firebird 2772, and Macross: Do You Remember Love?

Note: This page also covers Axis's spiritual successor, The Barry Haigh Group. This is because Barry Haigh Group and Axis were basically the same companies, Just with different dubbing directors.

Background

Axis International was founded in Hong Kong by former British Naval Intelligence officer and sports commentator Ted Thomas. In the late 1950s, After a couple years of working in broadcasting, Ted was commissioned by Run Run Shaw, Founder of Shaw Brothers, To help dub their films into English. Ted enjoyed his time working on Shaw Brothers’ films, And would later open his own dubbing company in 1960 named Axis International.

In the early 1960s, East-asian companies realized they could make more money out of their films if they exported it overseas with an English dub. Axis International was the newest and the cheapest, Making it the go-to dubbing company for several major film companies. According to Ted Thomas, Most writing sessions would begin by a company calling him and commissioning a film to be dubbed. Then, a translator (Usually Ron Oliphant or later, Eddy Chan or Matthew and Elizabeth Oram) would record what scene needed to be dubbed and would count the syllables and pauses for what was needed to lip sync in the scene, which would become the basis for the English script. One of Axis's first jobs was to dub The Secret of the Telegian, A sci-fi drama from Toho that was the first in the "Transforming Humans" trilogy. The dubbers would typically be very "jokey" and are clearly having a lot of fun when they were dubbing the films, Which can especially be seen the more earlier works from the 1960s.

The dubbers were only required to have two things, Fast reactions, and a unique voice with good inflections; The actual acting part of it would be seen as additional. Most dubbing sessions would begin by bringing in broadcasters from RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong), Their wives, Or actors who had applied via a newspaper advertisement that asked for actors to help Axis in dubbing. Microphones and tape for the film to be recorded on would be set up, and the films would be recorded in “loops”, which were small lengths of tape ranging from around thirty seconds to a minute. Because of the tight schedule, They usually didn’t have time to re-record a loop or even review it, as it would halt production on another dub they had to finish. Most dubbing sessions would take around 12 to 20 hours, Working from around 6 PM to Midnight, and about six or seven films would be finished in a month.

Sometime during the early 1970s, Barry Haigh and Matthew Oram decided to found their own dubbing company called "Barry Haigh Group". Barry and Matthew were both voice actors from Axis and had worked in "news and current affairs" at RTHK. Several voice actors for Axis would go over to work for Barry Haigh Group (Which will be called "BHG" going forward). Although Axis and BHG are legally different companies, Voice actors would switch between the companies for various reasons. The only ones that apparently didn't were Ted Thomas, Chris Hilton, Barry Haigh, Matthew Oram, And Elizabeth Oram. This is the reason why "Hong Kong dubs" never have Matthew Oram and Ted Thomas voice acting in the same picture after the late 1960s.

When the dubbing sessions were complete, The dubbed reel would be sent over to whichever company had commissioned the dub. The company would then pay back about 9,000 HKD and the dubbed film would be copied so it could be shipped to the distributor that had bought the rights to that film in whichever country the company was based in. The dubs would also be used in export prints with subtitles for that country's main language, But a general reason for why they would typically use the English dub instead of the original audio is unknown. Even though English dubs had been made by Axis and BHG, There would be instances where the English dub would be reworked entirely by another company if they thought the dub wasn't good. Most of these dubs would use the original Axis/BHG dub as a basis for the script, But would make subtle changes, add new actors, and occasionally make different cuts of the film. Even though this would be a semi-common practice in America during the 60s and early 70s, English dubs by Axis and BHG would see an influx in the mid-late 1970s and 80s, As American companies would begin to realize that using the export dub would be far cheaper than making a completely new one.

In the late 1970s, The casting process would become more professional. Peter Boczar recalls that, In 1976, after getting into contact with Ted by a friend, Ted Thomas greeted him at the gate of a low-rise office building / recording studio called “Shaw House”. Shaw House was the recording studio at this time, And almost every voice actor for Axis recorded, worked, and staffed there. After Ted Thomas and Ron Oliphant greeted Peter, He would then be sent into a room with Ron, Where a film would be played and Peter watched as dubbers rehearsed and acted for the film whilst Ron took notes. This would go on for about an hour, With Ron later explaining that he had to make sure Ron got the hang of it. Ron would go on to explain the dubbing process, Three dots on the script meaning a pause in the line, And Cantonese audio in one ear piece in order to help cue the dubber in on their lines. This was tricky, As one eye had to be on the script, and the other on the screen to make sure they got the lip-flaps right.

Axis International had many locations; Other locations would either be in small houses on the edge of town, or in a series of flats with the living room made into a studio and the bedrooms being the projector rooms. According to Peter Boczar, When he first came to Hong Kong in 1976, Their dubbing studio was in Shaw House, A low-rise office building / recording studio owned by Shaw Brothers. According to Matthew Oram, BHG's first recording studio was in a run-down film set, And one of the later locations was a former cinema in Diamond Hill called “Ken-Shing Studio”, which they possibly used sometime in the mid-to-late 1970s.

By the mid-1980s, Axis had been losing traction due to other dubbing companies being more successful and more professional in the eyes of companies, Which caused Axis to be considered obsolete. This, Combined with the dwindling number of actors, Caused the company to go defunct possibly sometime in the early 80s. As for BHG, They would continue to dub films until they would go under for the same reasons sometime in 1986-87. However, This wouldn't be the last dubbing studio in Hong Kong, As Axis and BHG would inspire generations of dubbing companies to come, Most notably Omni Productions, Which held a plethora of Axis and BHG alumni.

 Dubbed works 


 * The Secret of the Telegian (1960)
 * Matango (1963)
 * Atragon (1963)
 * Dogora (1964)
 * Gamera vs. Barugon (1966)
 * The War of the Gargantuas (1966)
 * Ninjascope (The Magic World of Ninjas) (1967)
 * Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)
 * Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (1968)
 * Genocide (1968)
 * Crimson Bat, the Blind Swordswoman (1969)
 * Trapped, the Crimson Bat (1969)
 * Watch Out, Crimson Bat (1969)
 * Space Amoeba (1970)
 * Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
 * The Big Boss (1971)
 * Lake of Dracula (1971)
 * Battle of Okinawa (1971)
 * Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
 * The Way of the Dragon (1972)
 * Fist of Fury (1972)
 * Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)
 * Professional Killers: Assassins Quarry (1973)
 * The Blazing Ninja (1973)
 * Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
 * Hanuman and the Seven Ultramen (1974)
 * Heroes Two (1974)
 * Evil of Dracula (1974)
 * Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974)
 * ESPY (1974)
 * Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
 * Hanuman and the Five Kamen Riders (1975)
 * Feng Shen Bang (1975)
 * Heroes in the Ming Dynasty (1975)
 * Mars Men (1976)
 * Lung men bei chi (1976)
 * Outlaw Cop (1976)
 * Zero Pilot (1976)
 * General Stone (1976)
 * Lady Karate (1976)
 * Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (1977)
 * Return of Bruce (1977)
 * 99 Cycling Swords (1977)
 * Shaolin Tamo Mystique (1977)
 * Wu Jiao Wa (1977)
 * The Invincible Armour (1977)
 * The Instant Kung-Fu Man (1977)
 * Duel in the Desert (1977)
 * Duel With The Devils (1977)
 * The Last Fist of Fury (1977)
 * Green Dragon Inn (1977)
 * The Four Shaolin Challengers (1977)
 * The Dragon Lives Again (1978)
 * Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978)
 * Two Great Cavaliers (1978)
 * The Eighteen Jade Arhats (1978)
 * Legendary Strike (1978)
 * Shaolin’s Tough Kid (1978)
 * Killer of Snake, Fox of Shaolin (1978)
 * Deadly Strike (1978)
 * Sadaetonguimun (1978)
 * The Brawl Busters (1978)
 * Enter Three Dragons (1978)
 * Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
 * Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin (1978)
 * Death Duel of Kung Fu (1979)
 * Dance of Death (1979)
 * Space Firebird 2772 (1980)
 * Gamera, Super Monster (1980)
 * Deathquake (1980)
 * Shaolin Raiders of Death (1980)
 * Imperial Navy (1981)
 * Kingfish The Killer (1981)
 * Wolf Devil Woman (1982)
 * Dragon Blood (1982)
 * Two Heroes Shooting Stars (1982)
 * Strike of the Thunderkick Tiger (1982)
 * Raiders of Buddhist Kung-Fu (1982)
 * Duel of the Tough (1982)
 * Strike of the Tortured Angels (1982)
 * Legend of the Eight Samurai (1983)
 * Mantis Vs. The Falcon Claws
 * The Return of Godzilla (1984)
 * Bye-Bye Jupiter (1984)
 * Macross: Do You Remember Love? (1984)
 * Super Ninja (1984)
 * Revenge of the Drunken Master (1984)
 * Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko (1985)
 * The Dancing Warrior (1985)
 * Police Story (1985)

 Talent Pool 

Gallery
 * Angel Chapman
 * Barry Haigh (Director, Voice Actor) (†)
 * Caroline Levy
 * Chris Hilton (†)
 * Elizabeth Oram
 * George Montgomery
 * Harvey Gamecock
 * Ian Wilson
 * Jack Murphy
 * John Culkin
 * John Wallace (†)
 * Linda Masson
 * Lynn Wilson
 * Mandy Cooke
 * Matthew Oram (Director, Voice Actor)
 * Michael Kaye
 * Michael Ross
 * Nick Kendall
 * Ron Oliphant (†)
 * Rick Thomas (†)
 * Peter Boczar
 * Saul Lockhart
 * Simon Broad
 * Ted Thomas (Director, Voice Actor) (†)
 * Warren Rooke
 * Warwick Evans

 Sources 


 * Interview with Ted Thomas: https://youtu.be/S41hRiy5wAc
 * Interview with Matthew and Elizabeth Oram: https://youtu.be/v_AOdFsuAvU
 * Interview with Peter Boczar: https://vantagepointinterviews.com/2020/07/25/chasing-kung-fu-dreams-peter-boczar-on-acting-and-dubbing-in-hong-kong/
 * Interview with Warwick Paul Evans: https://vantagepointinterviews.com/2018/08/25/from-dracula-to-dubbing-warwick-paul-evans-on-his-varied-career-in-hong-kong-entertainment/
 * Interview with Vaughan Savidge: https://vantagepointinterviews.com/2018/06/06/but-still-vaughan-savidge-on-his-hk-dubbing-career/
 * Interview with Ted Thomas: https://vantagepointinterviews.com/2017/05/17/man-of-a-thousand-voices-hong-kong-voice-actor-ted-thomas-on-his-prolific-dubbing-career/