Results 1 to 11 of 11
  1. #1
    R.I.P.
    DrB0b's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD
    Posts
    17,118

    Thai Movies - The Early Days

    Chang: A Drama of The Wilderness (1927)


    Chang: A Drama of The Wilderness was one of the first Hollywood movies to be filmed in Siam. Filmed in 1927 it's an example of the then new Docudrama genre. The producers tried to keep it as realistic as possible. It was filmed in Northern Thailand and all the actors were local Thai people with no previous acting experience.

    Kru's livestock are being attacked and killed off by leopards and tigers from the jungle. He sets traps to catch them but accidentally traps a baby elephant, the Chang of the title. Planning to train the elephant to work him for him he takes it home with him. This leads to the elephant's mother destroying Kru's house and, eventually, a herd of elephants attempting to their village.

    The scenes in this movie, clothes, housing, day to day life are all real, not sets, costumes, or props, except for the scene in which elephants destroy the village, this uses a half-size model village and a herd of baby elephants.

    The Cast is;

    Kru ... Kru, the Lao tribesman
    Chantui ... Chantui, his wife
    Nah ... Nah, son and heir of the House of Kru
    Ladah ... Their little girl[

    and, of course

    Bimbo the Monkey

    I've uploaded the opening 10 minutes to YouTube.

    Last edited by DrB0b; 02-02-2010 at 05:11 PM.
    The Above Post May Contain Strong Language, Flashing Lights, or Violent Scenes.

  2. #2
    Mmmm, Bowling......
    mobs00's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Last Online
    05-09-2015 @ 03:26 AM
    Location
    Chiang Mai
    Posts
    2,161
    ^ Know where to find/download a copy? I've been looking for one for a while and only seen it for sale at the distributors in the USA.

    http://www.milestonefilms.com/movie.php/chang/

  3. #3
    R.I.P.
    DrB0b's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD
    Posts
    17,118
    Quote Originally Posted by mobs00 View Post
    ^ Know where to find/download a copy? I've been looking for one for a while and only seen it for sale at the distributors in the USA.

    http://www.milestonefilms.com/movie.php/chang/
    PM me. I have a copy of the Milestone edition, let me know how to get it to you.

  4. #4
    Special member
    jizzybloke's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    7,877
    I enjoyed that, thanks Bob.

  5. #5
    Newbie
    crazyswede's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Last Online
    25-01-2013 @ 10:27 PM
    Location
    Farangland 1-1½ more year.
    Posts
    49
    Yeah , where´s the bloody torrent file??

  6. #6
    Banned for deleting Gallery
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Last Online
    @
    Posts
    2,671
    I have seen worse looking Thai films, quality wise from the 1970's. There are several important music films almost unwatchable, they just don't look after them. Is there no national Thai film archive for preserving film?

  7. #7
    R.I.P.
    DrB0b's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD
    Posts
    17,118
    Quote Originally Posted by crazy dog View Post
    I have seen worse looking Thai films, quality wise from the 1970's. There are several important music films almost unwatchable, they just don't look after them. Is there no national Thai film archive for preserving film?


    There's the Thai Film Foundation, a non-profit group. They actively seek out and preserve old film but it's a real struggle. They run the Thai Short Film festival and sell DVDs of rescued and restored movies. They've also got some pretty nice T-shirts for only 150 Baht each. Sadly many early Thai films were lost when the building the reels were stored in was burned down during WW2, one of the TFFs activities is trying to find traces of those movies. There are some good treasure hunting stories associated with that search. I think they're well worth supporting, they certainly get very little support from the state.

    There is also the National Film Archive, part of the Fine Arts Department, they do some good work. Dome Sukvong, their archivist, is a true hero of Thai Cinema. His book, A Century of Thai Cinema, http://www.amazon.com/Century-Thai-C.../dp/0500976031, is well worth a read.

    However....

    From the TFF site;
    As ever, a shameful pity
    14/07/08 (By: Kong Rithdee)


    On December 8, 2007, I reported on this page that "... in two weeks cabinet will officially approve the re-structuring of the National Film Archive from a section in the Department of Fine Arts to become a public organisation, or ongkarn mahachon, which means greater autonomy, liberation from the vice of red tape, and more generous funding."

    Such optimism, alas, is bordering on naivete in the shape-shifting labyrinth of Thai politics governed by the vagaries of its tricky and powerful players.

    From two weeks it has become seven months, and the administration has yet to ink the official approval to set the National Film Archive free from the prejudice of the old system and to improve it into a relevant cultural service agency.

    When the new cabinet took over from the previous one at the beginning of 2008, they predictably shelved most of the activities tabled by their predecessors, whom they seem to regard with professional disdain. How much this suspension is performed for the sake of the country and how much it is concerned with back-door negotiation and invisible interest is hard to determine. But since the Samak administration has absolutely zero idea of cultural policy (except appointing Girly Berry as the models of traditional Thai teens during Songkran), we're in for a curse of the philistine.

    In fact, the prospect is pretty grim. Deputy Prime Minister Suwit Khunkitti has sent all the files of the proposed public organisations back to the approving committee, and there's a possibility that he will eventually reject most of them. This means that the National Film Archive, whose case has been deliberated by successive ministers in the past seven years, may not be elevated to its preferred status despite the support from previous administrations. If vetoed by Mr Suwit, the archive might forever lose its chance to build its case, find itself stuck in the bureaucratic backwaters, and the audio-visual treasure of this country will remain in a state of serious jeopardy from lack of funding and resources.

    This blatant ignorance to preserve important national heritage by this government - old film clips and historic movies, needless to say, are part of our national identity and visual records of our ideas, temperament, tradition, artistry, diversity, even our very existence, as well as the backbone of our cultural meme - is a shame since the cabinet is puffing its chest and claiming to be the hero in the Preah Vihear saga, our "proud" historical treasure.

    Likewise with the politicians in the opposite camp; when they roast the cabinet over its unwise decision regarding the disputed Hindu temple, they failed to raise the point that there are many other national heritages worth protecting, conserving and improving - look at the state of our national library, national museum, the film archive, or historic houses around the country.

    That the Preah Vihear scandal is a politicised issue is unquestionable, but it's particularly sad when it makes you realise that those men would never care about temple ruins or ancient books unless somehow they promote their own self-interest.

    The Film Archive survives on the absurd budget of three million baht a year. Let me remind you that two years ago - when some of the current ministers also served in the Thaksin administration - the government had no qualms about splashing nearly 200 million baht to fund the Bangkok International Film Festival, a gaudy, fun and hopeless 10-day affair that later became a shameful showcase of high-profile corruption.

    (As usual, no one here has yet been indicted, though the American firm that was contracted by the Thai government to run the festival was busted by the FBI on the charge of bribing Thai officials).
    By becoming a public organisation, the Film Archive will be able to perform its job of preserving and even popularising historic motion pictures more properly. That, sadly, is not to be.

    The government, however, seems to be more keen on supporting large-scale plans to build movie studios and facilities, for the brighter future of the Thai film industry, as if they know anything about it.
    I only believe that no future is possible without the past, and to forget the past means you've forfeited the large part of your dignity. The government has very little of that left anyway.

    Lending a Helping Hand
    25/09/05 (By: Robert Williamson)


    Despite the popular notion that old films are outdated, irrelevant or just plain boring, there is a wealth of historical and cultural detail to be found in old film footage, without which our understanding of national heritage would be so much weaker. However, like most countries in Asia, Thailand’s cinematic legacy is in rather poor condition. The hot, wet climate, lack of money and resources, and a lack of understanding of the preciousness and fragility of film have meant that much of the country’s movie output has been lost, burnt, thrown away or left to rot. In some respects the situation is improving: Thailand’s film repository, the National Film Archive of Thailand (NFAT), under the stewardship of veteran film historian Dome Sukvong, has now been operating for over twenty years. But in others it is not: even though the NFAT is part of the Fine Arts Department, the government has persistently failed to provide enough financial support to enable the archive to do an effective job. The under-staffed, under-resourced archive has often been treated as a dumping ground for old film, much of which has to be painstakingly identified and repaired. It’s a time-consuming process and at any one time Dome will have hundreds, if not thousands, of cans of film piling up waiting to be evaluated and patched up. But this is largely an issue of time, and donations of time by volunteers can help. Other areas, however, cannot be resolved so conveniently. In particular, the restoration of frail, decomposing film has been all but impossible as the archive has never had the money to purchase the relevant equipment and local commercial labs have had neither the technology nor the expertise. Without restoration projects to save the archive’s crumbling treasures and return them to the public eye, the archive’s work goes unappreciated and its difficulties remain behind closed doors. But with a total annual budget of only three million baht (around US$70,000) and only three staff working on restoration, Dome doesn’t have the resources to carry out these potentially very expensive projects.
    http://www.thaifilm.com/articleDetail_en.asp?id=68

    :: THAI FILM FOUNDATION ::

    Thai Film Foundation
    50/17 Salaya-Nakornchaisri Road Phutthamonthon
    Nakornpathom 73170 Thailand
    Tel: 66 1 6155137
    Mobile: 66 2 8002716
    Fax: 66 2 8002717
    Email: info[at]thaifilm.com
    Last edited by DrB0b; 02-02-2010 at 11:51 PM.

  8. #8
    Newbie

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Last Online
    31-12-2014 @ 07:06 PM
    Posts
    33
    Maybe you could upload it to rapidshare, if you have an account.

    I would love to have a copy of the whole movie, would be great to show my wifes mum in Phimai

  9. #9
    Member

    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Last Online
    01-08-2013 @ 08:02 AM
    Location
    I live in The Sathorn area of Bangkok
    Posts
    196
    [quote=DrB0b;1310928]
    all the actors were local Thai people with no previous acting experience.


    Nothing changes on Thai TV then.

    The picture quality here is better than you find on some Laurel & Hardy films from the same year.

  10. #10
    Newbie
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Last Online
    09-11-2010 @ 05:55 PM
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    6
    The blonde monkey is called bimbo. That's funny

  11. #11
    Banned

    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Last Online
    03-06-2014 @ 09:01 PM
    Posts
    27,545
    For those keenly interested in Thai film and it's history, you might try Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal as an all-around examination of Thai film - historic and contemporary. Quite established and rather deep in content. Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal: News and Views on Thai Cinema

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •