Regal restoration

When His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej celebrated his royal wedding with Her Majesty Queen Sirikit on April 28, 1950 at Sra Pathum Palace, the small crew from His Majesty's personal Film Production Department recorded the proceedings on 16mm colour film. A week later, on May 5, 1950, the monarch's Royal Coronation Ceremony took place with exquisite pomp in the Grand Palace. Again, His Majesty's film personnel captured the luminous details of this once-in-a-lifetime event on rolls of Kodak film.

On May 17 of that year, two weeks after the Royal Coronation, Bangkok spectators flocked to Sala Chalermkrung Theatre to watch the film of these two royal ceremonies on the big screen, edited and narrated by the palace film department. In those days televisions had yet to become essential household furniture, and that screening 56 years ago marked the first time Thai audiences ever laid eyes on HM the King's "personal films".

At least 16 more royal films hit Thai theatres between 1950 and 1967, according to a study on the Preservation of His Majesty's Private Film Collection by the Thai National Film Archive. There were film clips shot by His Majesty himself when he was studying in Switzerland; the announcement of the birth of HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn; the daily lives in the palace showing the young Princess Ubolratana and HRH the Crown Prince as they were reading and drawing, as well as the activities of other members of the Royal Family. Besides these "home movies", there were official films, shot by the crew, on His Majesty's visits to various parts of Thailand, as well as his overseas trips to Indonesia, Vietnam, Burma, England, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, the US, and many more.

Many of these royal movies, says film scholar Dome Sukwong, were box-office hits at Bangkok cinema houses as they sold more tickets than Hollywood and Thai films that shared the programme. Each new release of a royal film was an event much-expected by the audience; despite impressive earnings, the King would donate the proceeds from the screenings to various charity organisations.

"And after leaving Bangkok cinemas, the films went on tour to different provinces," says Dome. "I remember that when I was a student in Narathiwat, the school would take us out to the cinema one afternoon to see the King's film."

Screenings in remote areas, mostly on outdoor screens, were free of charge and always attracted huge crowds. Royal Household secretary-general Kaewkwan Watcharoethai, who shot a number of the royal films in the 1950s and '60s, said in an interview with the researchers from the Fine Arts Department: "Four or five of us would travel in a van, modified to house a film projector in the middle. We would carry microphones, amplifiers and other equipment. I would sit in front, the narrator would sit behind me.... Each trip took us a month away from Bangkok, and we went everywhere - the North, the Northeast, the South - the same as those travelling movie carnivals."

Kaewkwan adds: "His Majesty would watch each new film before we released it in the theatres. In Bangkok, we asked the drive-by announcers, who drove their pick-up trucks around the city and advertised new releases through their loudspeakers, to spread the word to the people, just like other regular movies.... In the provinces we often screened the movies in schools or hospitals."

In the late-60s, when more and more homes had television sets, His Majesty's Film Production Department took to supplying the footage of royal news to television stations (there were only two at that time), and the last royal movie to open in the cinema was in 1967 - it included scenes from the end-of-term party at Chitralada School where HRH the Crown Prince, HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, and Princess Ubolratana were studying, as well as His Majesty's visits to Iran, England, the US and Canada. In the 1970s, each television station was allowed to send their own film crew to record royal ceremonies, but His Majesty's Film Production Department, based in Chitralada Palace, remains active to this day. And they still shoot everything on film, despite the popularity of video.

Over the past 56 years, His Majesty's Film Production Department has not only recorded the activities performed by the diligent monarch, but also sketched portraits of the country from a unique point of view - that of the revered King. The pictures showing distant villages where His Majesty visited, either shot by his crew or by the King himself, have served to document the geographical and spiritual landscapes of Thailand throughout His Majesty's 60-year reign.

But in 2002, the Royal Household raised concern over the condition of His Majesty's film collection. Like all old films whose chemical composition deteriorates from heat, humidity and the ravages of time, some of these 16mm films require preservation and restoration. Efforts had been made when the country prepared for the 60th anniversary of His Majesty's assession to the throne this year, and the talk of nursing these films back to their perfect health has resurfaced as Thailand prepares to celebrate the King's 80th birthday next year.

"There are at least 6,000 rolls of His Majesty's personal films," says Dome of the National Film Archive. "If each roll is 40 minutes' long, we can screen them for six months non-stop. I believe this is one of the most extensive private film collections in the world."

Last month, the Prime Minister's Office Minister Dhipavadee Meksawan set up a committee which will lay the groundwork for the restoration project. Royal Household deputy secretary-general Kwankaew Watcharoethai, brother of Kaewkwan, has been invited to head the committee. The panel will include local and international specialists in film preservation as well as film scholars.

Since these films are considered His Majesty's personal belongings, the next step is for the committee to submit an official request and ask for royal permission to begin the inspection and restoration of the films.

In terms of cinema study, the size and content of His Majesty's private collection of films represents a priceless treasure in the history of Siamese moving images. Its existence proves that films are a valuable part of the nation's cultural heritage. Preserving them is thus to preserve not only the honour of the King, but also the collective memories of the entire country.

According to a study by the National Film Archive in 2002, the palace film department has kept scrupulous records of every roll of film used in shooting royal activities since 1950 right up to the present, but the problem was with the film storage room in Chitralada Palace, which didn't have the best conditions for preserving colour film stocks. This means that the longer the preservation efforts are delayed, the higher the risk that these films will further degrade.

Another obstacle lies with the fact that our National Film Archive, located in Salaya, operates on such a paltry budget that to recruit and train new staff to work on the restoration is nearly impossible. On October 27, Unesco's World Audiovisual Heritage Day, the Thai film archive submitted a petition to the government urging the state to recognise the importance of preserving the nation's audiovisual materials, including His Majesty's private film collection.

With the establishment of the latest committee, hopes are rising that one of the most valuable anthologies of films in this country will be resurrected to the glory they once enjoyed when Thai audiences first thronged Sala Chalermkrung to see the Royal Coronation on the silver screen 56 years ago.

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