A sliver of Korat's cinematic past

An old photograph can reveal a lot. Take this shot of the Charoen Rat Theater in Korat, circa 1973. Two years ago, when I photographed the place, I wasn't able to locate any key informants. As a result, no data was compiled.

The below photo of Sam Lor drivers waiting beneath the marquee reveals one important thing, at least: as of 1973, the Charoen Rat was part of a circuit that supplied Shaw Brothers movies. It may, in fact, have been the theater in Korat for Chinese language pictures.

Most medium sized towns would have at least one theater that specialized in Hong Kong/Singapore imports. Shaw Bros. distributed widely throughout Southeast Asia from their Singapore office.

The movie screening at the time of this photo was the kung fu - action, "The Villain."

Next in line is a soft core flick called "Adultery Chinese Style."

Below are a couple of shots of the Charoen Rat from the SEAMTP archive circa 2010.

The Charoen Rat Theater: once the place to watch Hong Kong/Singapore film in Korat, now a motorcycle dealership.

Signage

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(The top photograph was shamefully nicked from Bob Freitag's "The Vietnam War Years of Korat Royal Thai Air Base", an on-line forum for American air force vets to share photos and information.)