ESPY (Japanese: エスパイ, lit. "ESPY") is a 1974 Japanese spy film directed by Jun Fukuda and written by Ei Ogawa, basing the script off of a 1964 novel of the same name by Sakyo Komatsu.
Dubbing history[]
It is not currently known why but, after commissioning dubs from Axis International for fourteen years, Toho International would commission Matthew and Elizabeth Oram to dub their films for both that year and one from the previous year. The known first batch of films dubbed by Matthew and Elizabeth for Toho were Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, Submersion Of Japan, ESPY, Evil Of Dracula, and Prophecies Of Nostradamus. Due to the similarity of the cast in most of these dubs (Submersion Of Japan is the only one which can not be said for certain due to it being currently publicly unavailable), It can be assumed that they were all recorded around the same time. Out of the known dub casts, ESPY has the smallest as it consists of only five voice actors. These voice actors are Barry Haigh, Linda Masson, Michael Ross, Matthew Oram, and one unknown voice actor of uncertain nationality that has no other currently known dubbing roles.
For several decades, the english export cut of ESPY would only be made publicly available through a version edited for television that circulated during the early 1980s and was re-released by Paramount on VHS in 1994. This version not only cuts out gore and nudity, but it also removes some of the english language visuals seen during the opening of the film, as well as various other scenes in order to get a shorter runtime for syndication on television. However, around the same time, Lebanese home video distributor PVS would release ESPY's uncut english export cut on VHS as a rental. This release would not become much more well known until the early 2020s, with the tape being digitally preserved shortly after in 2023, rendering the uncut english export cut digitally and publicly available for the first time.
| Character | Original actor | English dub |
|---|---|---|
| Yoshio Tamura | Hiroshi Fujioka | Barry Haigh |
| Maria Harada | Kaoru Yumi | Linda Masson |
| Jiro Miki | Masao Kusakari | Michael Ross |
| Hojo | Eiji Okada | Matthew Oram |
| Teraoka | Goro Mutsumi | (unknown) |
| Salabad | Eiji Okada | Barry Haigh |
| Ulrov | Tomisaburo Wakayama | Matthew Oram |
| Goro Tatsumi | Katsumasa Uchida | (unknown) |
| Baltonian PM | Steve Green | Barry Haigh |
| Godonov | Jimmy Shaw | Michael Ross |
| Judy | Luna Takamura | Linda Masson |
| Abdullah | Willie Dorsey | Michael Ross |
| Boru | Hatsuo Yamaya | Matthew Oram |
| U.S. PM | Andrew Hughes | Barry Haigh |
| Young Miki | Kelly Vansis | Linda Masson |
| Young Judy | Julie Club | Linda Masson |