THAI CINEMA BOOKS

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Summary: This is the first book to provide a visual history of Thai cinema and all its associated memorabilia, from advertisements and programmes to reproductions of highly collectable film posters. Cinema was born in 1895. Just two years later it had reached Siam, where it quickly became hugely popular, with small booklets in Thai explaining the stories of imported films. An indigenous film industry was quickly establishes, whose 'golden age' was during the 1930s before the outbreak of the Second World War. Some 700 cinemas were built throughout the country, as well the many open-air screenings during temple fairs and other popular events. In the post post-war era, cinema remained the most popular public entertainment. Despite various technical shortcomings, Thai movies withstood foreign imports thanks to the popularity of Thailand's version of Burton and Taylor - Mitr and Petchara.

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Summary: This dissertation considers Thai cinema as a national text. It portrays and analyses Thai film from the introduction of cinema to Thailand during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910) to present day (2004). Of particular relevance is this dissertation's emphasis on three resilient and potent signifiers of Thai identitity - nation, religion, and monarchy - and their interrelationship and influence in the development of Thai National Cinema.

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Summary: In the eyes of scholars and social critics, Thai Buddhism has experienced chaos and crisis since the 1980s. In this paper, Dr Pattana Kitiarsa will look beyond the mainstream critics and intellectual thoughts by re-examining the discourse on "Thai Buddhism in crisis" from popular film perspectives. The contemporary state of Thai Buddhism will be countered with stories based on a selection of recently-released popular films, namely, Fun Bar Karaoke (1997), Mekhong Full Moon Party (2002), and Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (2003).

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Summary: A few Thai movies related to Thai boxing are analyzed in this paper. The movies are Ong Bak - Muay Thai Warrior, Muai Thai - Nai Khanom Tom, Tom Yum Goong and Beautiful Boxer. All the Muai Thai films in this selection strongly connote the persistence as well as the transformation of contemporary Thai masculine culture. Thai men have carried the historical burden in defending Thai cultural honor and dignity. Thai men in the four cinematic representations of Muai Thai consciously fight hard to earn the honor to represent their masculine Thainess on the world stage. However, Muai Thai's authority to monopolize the masculine side of Thainess is significantly contested by the feminization and transnationalization of this professional sport.

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Summary: As political barriers crumble, Asian cinema is increasingly attracting the attention of film critics, film scholars, and specialists in cultural studies. The relationship among cinema, nationhood, and history is as complex as it is fascinating, bringing us face to face with questions of power, ideology, truth, coloniality, post-coloniality, and representation. "Colonialism and Nationalism in Asian Cinema" deals with film traditions in nine Asian countries - Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Australia. This book should be particularly relevant to Asianists, anthropologists, film scholars, students of cultural studies and historians. The part regarding Thailand includes a very deep and detailed history regarding Thai cinema.

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Summary: As global cinema becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish, characterizations of horror films from various geographical and cultural locations seem more fluid and transitional than ever before. However, this does not mean denying the existence of national features that affect and are reflected in horror films, whether from an artistic or a reception standpoint. Horror is one of the most studied genres in cinema, yet none of the many books on the subject focus on films or traditions outside the United States or the United Kingdom. While Italian, Japanese, Mexican, German, and Hong Kong horror films have received a modicum of critical recognition, the areas of Egyptian, Romanian, Belgian, Dutch, New Zealand, and Thai horror all still need-in fact, demand-some attention. Horror International seeks to rectify this by giving the global perspectives and cross-cultural dynamics of world horror cinema its due. This groundbreaking collection of eighteen original essays examine a myriad of films, showing how each draws from Hollywood horror conventions and also local cinematic traditions, local folklore, and national historical and cultural concerns. The production, marketing, and reception of various national cinemas are also addressed, demonstrating how these films are understood by different audiences worldwide. This in turn sheds new light on the original cultural production of many works and their subsequent "translations" and meanings in different national contexts. The diverse and highly informative essays in Horror International will engross both scholars and fans of horror films and finally illuminate the distinct multicultural factors of this exciting cinematic genre. The Thai part is called "Thailand haunted: The power of the past in the contemporary Thai Horror Film" and is written by Adam Knee.

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Summary: This essay will offer an analysis of Kawow tee Bangpleng as one such case of generic appropriation in the context of Thai cinema. Thailand's box office was, like many others, dominated by Hollywood productions throughout the 1990s, and there are clear Western influences (as well as, it should be mentioned, Hong Kong influences) in many domestic Thai films.

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Summary: This Thai magazine is about Thai legendary actress Petchara Chaowarat. Mitr Chaibancha's most popular leading lady was Petchara Chaowarat, with whom he first shared the screen in 1962. The pair remained in huge demand (165 movies) for years, until production lighting finally ruined Petchara's eyesight and she took her leave. She starred in around 300 films from 1961 to 1979. The full summary of her life can be read in ThaiWorldView.com cinema section. A Petchara Chaowarat's biography can be read at http://www.thaiworldview.com/tv/petchara.php

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Summary: This Thai magazine is about Thai movies stars, TV series stars anf famous couple stars. It is a people magazine that talks about their life, their romance, their next movies... There are also various articles about Thai society.

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Summary: Thai TV series are very popular. Every evening Thai people watch Thai TV series on CH3, CH5 or CH7. Such TV serie or soap opera lasts often more than 20 episodes. So Thai magazines are released in advance to narrate the story and highlight the key events that have happened during the Thai TV serie shooting.

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Summary: Every year in December and January, Thai shops (banks, groceries...) offer Thai calendars to their customers. Most of the time, banks offer Thai calendars featuring pictures of the current Thai King Rama IX. Groceries shops offer Thai calendars featuring popular Thai actors or Thai actresses. Those calendars display the Thai public holidays, the Buddhist holy days and often the Chinese traditional festivals.

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Summary: Early days and the 1960s Thai cinema has a history that reaches back more than eighty years. This article from Suthakorn Santithawat - a former film critic, director of Kwan-Riam and current executive member of the Thai Film Directors Association and also working as a documentary producer and film subtitler - is about Thai Action Films history. Many Thai action movie have a similar theme, i.e. a rural goodman turned-outlaw hero and fighting for justice or taking justice into his own hands. In 1960s the genre was dominated by westerns and espionage thrillers. Chalong Pukdeewichit is one of the most notable action Thai filmmaker as he put in place movies with a large budget, sex, violence and use a famous internationally known actor to attract buyers. Other action films were still made with low budgets and targeted at local audiences. The plot lines were similar as they included heroes who fought for justice or took revenge against overwhelmingly powerful enemies. Famous Thai directors from 1970s include Kom Akadej. Another famous director in 1980s was Panna Rittikrai for its stunt movies

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Summary: Thai film Archives features the colorful and old Sri Salaya theater. Every month, there is an updated program featuring movies on daily basis. There is a mix of old / recent Thai movies and also from time to time some foreign movies.

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Summary: Film Archives Newsletter is released normally every 3 months. For overseas people, Thai Film Archives Newsletter can be consulted online at http://fapot.org . The Newsletter features articles related to Thai cinema, to Thai movies projected on daily basis, to activities happening at Thai Film Archives or หอภาพยนตร์ (องค์การมหาชน) at the compound in Salaya.

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Summary: This book features all movies poster by Thai famous director ChatriChalerm Yukol from 1972 to 2001. The posters are in great A4 format. A list of his movies and a small biography can be consulted at http://www.thaiworldview.com/tv/act.php?myChoice=ChatriChalerm%20Yukol&mySearch=3 . Some of his movies are difficult to find such as นางแบบมหาภัย (2519), หน่วยล่า123 (2527), ความรักครั้งสุดท้าย (2518), รักคุณเข้าแล้ว (2520).

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Summary: This small book narrates the life of Mitr Chaibancha (มิตร ชัยบัญชา), the most Thai famous actor. This book can be purchased at Thai Film Archives at the compound in Salaya. It features many Mitr Chaibancha pictures and Thai movies posters in which he played. During the years 1956-1970, the leading actor was Mitr Chaibancha. Even Queen Sirikit said "I am one of his fans". He was a former warrant officer in the Thai air force. He played in 266 movies and finally died while filming the final scene of the movie "Insee Thong" (อินทรีทอง). Of the 100 or so films released each year, he was the star of 30 of them. His popularity was such that when he died he was working on 18 different films, many of them had to be scrapped as he was the main star in all of them.

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Summary: Dokdin Kanyaman has directed 33 movies. He was the first Thai director whose films made over 1 million baht. He coined the popular phrase "It's a million!" (ล้านแล้วจ้า), whenever box-office takings hit the 1 million baht mark. At that time cinema tickets cost 7 baht. Some of his famous movies include "Kung Nang" (กุ้งนาง) (1976), "Mam Jaa" (แหม่มจ๋า) (1975), "Sign Sum-oy" (สิงห์สำออย) (1977) and "Khon Kin Mia" (คนกินเมีย) (1974). Dokdin's film casts consist of a hero, a heroine, assistant heroes, assistant heroines, ruffians, sexy stars and comic relief characters. This book was released by Thai Film Archives and narrates Dokdin's life

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Summary: This new monthly Thai magazine was released in March 2013. It includes articles about modern movies, modern TV series but also everything related to older Thai cinema culture (actors such as Mitr Chaibancha, old Thai theaters, old Thai movies from 1960s and 1970s ...). Every month, a free VCD is given featuring an old Thai classic movie. So a bargain for only 40 Baht. Thai cinema expert Manat Kingchan (มนัส กิ่งจันทร์) write articles for this magazine.

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Summary: This book is written by Tae Prakardwutthisan and relates his own life. Tae Prakardwutthisan is one of Thailand's most famous director and film producer. His key movies include the Bangkok flood (1942), สุภาพบุรุษเสือไทย (1948), สาวเครือฟ้า (1953), เห่าดง(1958), สี่คิงส์ (1959). He was named as National Artist. This book can be purchased at the Thai Film Archives in Nakhon Pathom.

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Summary: This book is written by famous IFD spanish historian, i.e. Mr Jesus M. Perez Molina. IFD Films and Arts is a Hong Kong company founded in 1973 by Joseph Lai. IFD is specialized in B-movies, especially the movies of Godfrey Ho. Filmark was a production company similar to IFD. Many IFD / Filmark movies use Taiwanese, Thai, Korean movies footages and are often adding various Ninja sequences to create a new movie. 57 Thai movies were used in IFD / Filmark movies. Some of them are lost in Thailand and the only remaining footage is the one used in those B-movies. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the international rights to many of films featuring Sorapong were obtained by the Hong Kong production companies IFD and Filmark. Around two dozens of movies starred by Sorapong Chatree were bought and re-edited adding new scenes and retitled.

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Summary: This magazine was released for the 43th anniversary of Mitr Chaibancha's death. It features many pictures of Mitr Chaibancha and the actresses (including Petchara Chaowarat) with who he played during his thirteen years career.

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Summary: This book is unique in the whole world. It takes us on an unusual trip around a fairly unknown genre, Asian Westerns. Westerns were so popular all over Asia that were transformed and adapted to their local audience's taste, turning them into something even wilder and they became some of the best masterpieces of popular Asian cinema.

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Summary: This Nation Multimedia article is about the most influential Thai people. There is a dedicated section about Thai veteran actor Sombat Methanee. Sombat Metanee has starred in over 600 films and won numerous awards.

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Summary: This magazine was released for the 44th anniversary of Mitr Chaibancha's death. It features many old stories written by author มนัส กิ่งจันทร์ regarding various themes linked to old Thai movies (lost movies, posters, old theaters, outdoor movie companies, Mitr Chaibancha's life, old actors and actresses, romance and action themes in Thai movies...)

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Summary: This 471 pages thesis written by a French author is about Thai contemporary cinema from years 1970 to 1988. It is about Thai movies, movies directors, Thai star system, specificities to Thai movie market (various flavors in a single movie including action, romance, musical, horror, comic, drama and sometimes even a bit of erotism), Thai audience expectations, Thai cinema history, Thai movies production constraints... The thesis is composed of two parts, i.e. part I related to the main thesis topic and part II including annex, movies index, pictures, references. Various movies are deeply studied. For actions movies, movies studied are ไอ้ชาติเหล็ก (1984), คาดเชือก (1983), เพชรตัดเพชร (1982), เพชรตัดหยก (1982), ชาติผยอง (1978), ลำพูนดำ (1983). For historical movies, movies studied are ขุนศึก (1976), พระเจ้าเสือ (1982), เลือดสุพรรณ (1979). For war movies, movies studied are กัมพูชา (1985), ถล่มค่ายนรกจางซีฟู (1982), ระย้า (1981). For folklore movies, movies studies are ไกรทอง (1980), สุดสาคร (1979), พระรถเมรี (1981), ขุนช้างขุนแผน ตอนปราบจรเข้เถรขวาด (1982). For horror movies, movies studied are เงินปากผี (1981), อภินิหารน้ำมันพราย (1984), กระสือสาว (1973), ค้างคาวทอง (1984).

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Summary: This Facebook group includes more than 1000 stories related to Thai cinema from 1950s to 1990s. Stories are related to Thai lost movies, famous Thai actors / actresses / directors, the search of old Thai movies, outdoor cinema companies, movies dubbers...

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Summary: The Southeast Asia Movie Theater Project is a one-person initiative to document the stand-alone movie theatres of the Mekong region. http://seatheater.blogspot.hk/

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Summary: This magazine is about Thai old cinema. It features many interesting articles about Thai actors, Thai actresses, Thai movies, Thai remakes, Mitr Chaibancha, Thai musical movies, Thai lost movies. All articles are written by มนัส กิ่งจันทร์...

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Summary: This thesis is about Thai cinema history from 1945 to 1970. It covers the 16mm format era. The 1950s and 1960s appear as two decades of intense effervescence in the field of Thai cinema. In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the adoption of the 16mm format by a new generation of filmmakers gave rise to a very popular cinematic production in the kingdom. Whereas the musicals directed by the pioneer founders of the Phaphayon Siang Si Krung company until 1941 seemed to promise the perennial hegemony of a real ‘Hollywood of Siam’, these joyously rhapsodic fictions, filmed with makeshift means and accompanied live by the legendary loquaciousness of professional dubbers, encountered a broad public from Bangkok to the most remote provincial villages, within a screening framework stemming directly from earlier mixed shows. Nevertheless, the accidental disappearance of the actor Mit Chaibancha on the 8th of October 1970, during the shooting of Insi Thong [The golden eagle], put an abrupt end to this singularly belated experience of oral cinema. The recent composition of an archival fund at the Thai Film Archive brought to light rich vestiges from this well-named ‘16mm era’. This research is a first historiographical attempt to exhume this visual patrimony, both embedded in the Siamese dramatic tradition and generated in the context of a military dictatorship that came under the complexe influence of its American ally during these Cold War years.

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Summary: This focus is focusing on the tragic death of Mitr Chaibancha in year 1970. Engkasak Kethom doesn't believe his death was an accident. He is looking for some responsibles. His investigation is based on checking in great details the Thai newspapers mentioning Mitr Chaibancha's death, interviewing people that were present in Bang Saen where the tragic accident occured. He concludes that there is a mix responsabiliy between Mitr Chaibancha and the technical team. Mitr Chaibancha refused to use a stunt man and surestimated his own strength as he was already very tired, the technical team was afraid to tell Mitr that there was no more film in the cameras, the helicopter pilot went too fast and too high so Mitr Chaibancha didn't have time to put his feet on the ladder

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Summary: This magazine is about Thai old cinema. It features many interesting articles about Thai actors, Thai actresses, Thai movies, Thai remakes, Mitr Chaibancha, Thai musical movies, Thai lost movies. All articles are written by มนัส กิ่งจันทร์...

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Summary: Once wildy popular, Thailand's standalone cinemas have been replaced by the shopping-mall multiplex. For ten years, Philip Jablon travelled across the country recording the relics, ruins and romance of this lost cinematic culture. With an introduction of Kong Rithdee and featuring over 50 of the most compelling standalones together with vintage photographs and an exceptional selection of hand-painted movie posters, Thailand's movie theatres book captures an irreplaceable slice of social, cultural and movie history.

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ThaiWorldView Cinema library contains 32 items.

ThaiWorldView library contains 162 items.

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