The Thai Film Museum

The first and only Thai film museum in Thailand, exhibiting 100 years of film in Thailand, a Hall of Fame, and the process of film production from past to present.

By Grant Cameron

April 1^st, 2018

first Thai film museum

The Thai Film Museum was created in 1990 from the Thai Film Archive originally founded by historian Dome Sukwong in 1984.

According to TourismThailand.org “the museum or movie hall is state-owned. It is similar to a library, a museum and an arts hall, but stores films and videos, and other items related to them. It is aimed at their conservation as national intellectual property, and arts and cultural heritage. They can be provided to the public for study, research, and appreciation”.

Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin (1889 - 1977) was a worldwide famed and loved actor with his character "The Tramp”. Among his most famous movies were "A Dog’s Life" (1918) in which he co-starred with Mut - a dog, and "The Kid" (1921), which also starred child actor Jackie Coogan (1914 - 1984).

In this installation the kid alerts Chaplin to look at a man sitting by the fountain by pointing at him. The man was believed to be the inventor of moving images who was close to revealing to the world the first movie invention in 1890.

But before that would happen, he mysteriously disappeared. His name was Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince (1841 – vanished 1890).

PRINCE SANBHASATRA

Regarded as the Father of Thai Cinema, H.R.H. Prince Thongthaem Thavalyawongse Prince Sarnbasatra Subhakich, a younger brother of King Rama V, (King Chulalongkorn), was responsible for purchasing new and unusual things on a royal tour of Europe in 1897.

Supposedly the prince bought “three sets of Nang Farang (Western films)”, including a camera and projector from France, and began to make his own films and to screen them in his palace from 1900.

H.R.H. Prince Thongthaem Thavalyawongse Prince Sarnbasatra Subhakich

The Father of Thai Cinema

Movie scene and sculptor

On the left is a self-portrait sculpted statue of the artist Yodchai Meksuwan, looking at his installation which is intended to depict filming of “His Sweet Melody” a 1937 Thai musical produced by Srikrung Sound Film Studio. The actress is Manee Sumonnut (1915 - 1990) who played as Queen of Zancozar, a fictional country. The male lead was Chumrus Suwakont, and the director Khun Wichitmatra (Sa-nga Kanchanakaphan).

Prince Purachatra

General Prince Purachatra of Kamphaengphet (1882 – 1936), a son of King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V) graduated from the University of Cambridge, England. He started working as a military engineer and later became the Commissioner-General of the Royal State Railways Department during the reign of King Rama VI.

Prince Purachatra was notably an amateur filmmaker and saw great benefit of film as a medium for teaching and dissemination of information. He founded the Topical Film Service of the Royal State Railways in 1922, which served as as the production centre for newsreel and documentary films of Siam.

Here, his statue is standing on a JNR Class C56 type 2-6-0 steam locomotive, built by Japanese Government Railways in the late 1930’s, and preserved by the SRT (State Railway of Thailand).

The Black Maria

The dark structure in the background is a replica of the “Black Maria”, the first motion picture studio in the world, built in 1893 by Thomas Alva Edison. The Black Maria was located at Edison’s laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey in the U.S., 14,016 kilometers west of the location of its replica (according to the museum).

The two men depicted in the foreground are George Eastman and Thomas Edison, sculpted from a photograph taken at Eastman’s home in New York in 1928.

Kinetoscope, Nickleodeon et al . .

Cinema Entrance

Movie Screenings

Sala Chalermthai

Thailand’s grand national theatre, “Sala Chalermthai”, was officially opened in 1949. It originally presented stage plays which enjoyed their rise during the post-war period, but soon became a cinema following the revival of motion pictures sweeping Thailand after the war. It was regarded as one of the country"s leading cinemas and always equipped with the latest technology.

This miniature structure was erected at the entrance in 2012, aimed at imparting to the younger generation knowledge about one of the most historically important cinemas in Thailand.

Sculpture of JEAN GABIN

Jean Gabin (1904-1976) was one of the greatest French film stars, starring in almost 100 films from 1928 to 1976.

His sculpture depicts his role as a locomotive driver, Jacques Lantier, in the film La Bête Humaine from the novel of the same name by Emile Zola. Released in 1938, the film shows what is considered to be one of the most beautiful train shots ever seen in the world of cinema; perhaps a fitting way to end this story.