The Sermsuk Theater - Kumphawapi, Udorn Thani Province, Thailand

It was a blazing hot afternoon when I arrived in the town of Kumphawapi. Though only an hour by minivan from Udon Thani - the gritty economic capital of northern Isan - Kumphawapi feels much further removed. A prototypical Isan market town, in many ways. Rural in essence even if the physical town is somewhat built up.

As I recall it, and the photos below attest to, the sun was beating down relentlessly, casting the town in bright hues that made it resemble the set of a Spaghetti Western. The townsfolk had apparently all sought refuge from the heat, leaving the streets deserted save for a troop of macaques lazing around in the shade of an ancient Banyan tree. 

No more than 10 minutes after my arrival I was standing in front of Kumphawapi's lone movie theater, The Sermsuk. Naturally it was out of business, though in surprisingly good condition, or so its seemed from the exterior.

I snapped off a handful of shots before retreating to a local eatery for shade and sustenance, never following up on it, never digging into the theater's past. A brief conversation with the restaurant owner about its was as deep as I got. 

What can I say? 

Sometimes I'm just not in the mood.   

The Sermsuk Theater

'Cinemacide' in Udon Thani

After more than a decade of abandonment, one of Udon Thani's last remaining stand-alone movie palaces, the Amporn, has been demolished.

My lone visit to the Amporn back in early 2009 is memorable for being the first instance of awe I experienced at the sight of a Thai movie theater. Despite its already deleterious condition, my jaw dropped at the sight of it, and I recall with crystal clarity wondering if somebody would actually have the thoughtless audacity to knock it down. Surely not, I convinced myself, because movie theater or otherwise, the building itself is too prized to let nonexistence repossess it. A repurposed future is in store!, I cheered inwardly. Wishful thinking, that was. The lesson reiterated: when a bottom line itches, all else is lost in the process of scratching it.

The Amporn Theater was erected in the 1960's, when Udon Thani's Royal Thai Air Force Base was a front-line facility for the US Air Force in its sustained bombing of Laos and Vietnam. Udon Thani, awash in Yankee green, went from a sleepy provincial capital-cum-market town to a regional hub with a pulsing war economy in a few short years. In the interim, six or seven massive movie palaces were built across town, the Amporn among them.

(For musical accompaniment cicra 1960's Udon Thani, click the above link. The song, sung in Thai and broken English by Mani Moneewan, is entitled "Love Letter from a Rented Wife")

If my sources are correct, the Amporn was built by a local developer named Dr. Sukhum. Endowed with the rare status of celebrity businessman, and riding on the coat tails of the American military machine, Dr. Sukhum's palatial movie theaters helped usher Udon Thanians into an era of high modernity. His architectural legacy - including the said series of elegant, modernist cinemas, which brought a much-needed touch of monumentalism to the city's soot-coated streets - is now in the process of being dismantled.

News of the Amporn's demolition reached my desk via Udonmap.com.

Vintage photos of the Amporn and Chao Phraya theaters - Udonthani, Thailand

Ladies and gentlemen, the Southeast Asia Movie Theater Project proudly presents a new batch of dazzling vintage movie theater photos. These images come courtesy of Mr. Atitep Kayoum, an Udonthani native and movie enthusiast who upon seeing Craig Campen's photo submissions (see two posts prior), dug deep into his own collection to bring us these snapshops from his childhood. Behold Atitep Kayoum's vintage photos of the Amporn and Chao Phraya theaters,
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The Amporn then (circa 1990/91)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade playing at the Amporn Theater.

Jackie Chan and Andy Lau starring in Island on Fire, the Thai name of which is Big Vs. Big, at the Amporn Theater.

Gotta love those hand-painted advertisements

The Amporn now circa 2009

(Above photo courtesy of the Projectionist)

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The Chao Phraya Theater (RIP 2009)

The Chao Phraya Theater showing Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon

Jackie Chan in what I believe is Fearless Hyeana 2, playing at the Chao Phraya Theater

Posters for War Hero (Wiraburut Songkram) and First Time (Krang Raek)

Interior of the Chao Phraya

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A very nice collection of photos from Khun Atitep Kayoum, of Udonthani, Thailand. Thanks very much for these photos. They're of great historical value! Again, I encourage others out there to send along their old movie theater photos from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma or elsewhere in this corner of the world. You will be helping to preserve a legacy which is quickly being forgotten.

Classic photos of classic Isan theaters

A few weeks ago a good friend sent me a link to Craig Campen's Udorn & NKP Pix - Circa 1973 - 1974. Among Craig's photos were some old movie theater shots from Udonthani and Nakon Phanom, depicting the theaters while they were at their height of popularity. This was quite a treat for me. Several of the theaters he photographed while stationed at the US Air Force base at Udonthani in the early 1970's were ones I've visited since they've been decommissioned - like the Thep Nakon Rama in Nakon Phanom. So I contacted Craig and asked if he'd allow me to post his old theater photos. He very graciously obliged, sending along a nice portfolio of theater photos, supplemented by some of his memories of the old theaters. Have a look below.
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My wife and I routinely went to about three different movie theaters during my year in Udon Thani while stationed at the air base during the Vietnam War era. Chinese movies (the Japanese were always the bad guys), Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns and other cowboy movies, Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris movies, and lots of action and martial arts movies were popular then. Tickets cost around 5 to 10 baht depending on where you sat. The exchange rate then was pretty much 20 TB = $1. Some theaters had a separate viewing room on an upper level with either headsets to rent or speakers playing the English soundtrack. We usually sat in the regular balcony seats since most movies had English subtitles on screen with a Thai dubbed audio track. I remember that sometimes the Thai audience would laugh at certain lines spoken in Thai, while the English subtitles weren’t really that funny. I guess they took liberties with the translations to make it more entertaining for the Thai audiences. We usually bought freshly made drinks (ice coffee or fruit juices) in plastic bags and maybe some dried squid or pork balls on a stick (often referred to as “monkey balls). There was lots of activity around the entrance to any movie theater.

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The Sri Udon Theater - Udonthani, Thailand

We knew this theater as the “Sri Udon”. It was located near the first traffic circle from the Air base (Udorn R.T.A.F.B.) After walking under the movie sign, the theater was just beyond the buildings where the samlars are lined up.We saw a lot of movies there and as we recall, it and other movie theaters in Udon Thani were air conditioned in the 1973-1974 time frame.I was fascinated by the work that went into street level advertising. Some of the skeletons in this Jason and the Argonauts 3-D display were animated. The two boys in this photo stood and watched the display for a long time. I hoped they would get to see the movie.

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The Thep Nakorn Rama Theater - Nakon Phanom, Thailand



View of the Thep Nakorn Rama movie theater from the air conditioned NKP hotel.
In NKP, the Thep Nakorn Rama. Now playing: The Doberman Gang!

Photo adjusted so you can make out the three Doberman larger-than-life models looking out at passersby.

The Thep Nakon Rama, 2009. Photos by the Projectionist.
______________________________________________________________Large and colorful movie billboards In Udon Thani were hand-painted by locals. (“SB” – the Shaw Brothers movies were very popular.)

Using low tech but effective methods, the artists would sometimes use a picture from a magazine or small poster, draw a pattern of small squares over it, and then reproduce those images on a large canvass overlaid with a pattern of bigger squares.

Just for fun, I actually paid one of these artists a few baht to paint an image of me from a photo. The final product was about a 3 foot head-to-foot likeness that I mounted on fiber board and cut it out so it would stand up. I would have to dig around a bit to find a photo of it. I don’t believe it made the trip back to the States.

More large advertising: The picture on the right is advertising a movie called Even Angels Eat Beans, directed by Enzo Barboni (E.B. Clucher). His other better known movies at the time were semi-comedic cowboy movies called, Trinity Is My Name, and the sequel, Trinity Is Still My Name.

I don’t remember the name of this movie theater, but it looks similar to the Amporn from the photos you took.Can’t remember where I took this picture, the Chalern (…?... something) movie theater possibly in NKP. Udon Thani streets were paved and more congested.
___________________________________________________________________________Many thanks to you Craig for sharing your photos. Great stuff!

If there's any SEAMTP viewers who have some vintage movie theater photos from this part of the world and would like to show them off, please contact me at sea.theater@hotmail.com and they'll be posted for the world to see.

The Chalermrad Theater - Udonthani, Thailand

From the ticket seller on the bus, to my hotel receptionist, street vendors, Sam Lor drivers and countless shop keepers throughout the city, everybody I asked, old and young, told me that there were only two remaining theaters in Udonthani -- The Vista and The Amporn. I had resigned myself to that figure and after tracking them down, felt satisfied with the take. But just as I was ending my quest in Udon for the day, a chance encounter with a friendly senior and lifelong khon Udon alerted me to the still standing Chalermrad Theater.


Yes, there it was, shining like the "Celebrated Jewel" that its name translates to (probably family name of the original owner, though), the Chalermrad Theater was the third of three colossal old movie theaters still standing in Udon. But my enthusiasm after finding it was extinguished with a flap of the tongue from the one and only jerk I've encountered on these missions. The man at the desk in the photo below didn't notice me when I snapped this poor-quality picture of the old lobby from outside. So I entered and asked as politely as possible, "excuse me sir, but I noticed that your Beer Chang distribution center is housed in a beautiful old movie theater. Would you mind if I took a few photos of the old lobby? It's for the public record."

Two scornful eyes stared back at me: "No you may not. Leave now!"

My vision narrowed and my pulse quickened as his words backhanded me across the face. Somehow though, I kept my poise, forced a smile, turned and slowly walked away. It was a reminder that A), there are a lot of assholes in this world and B), not everybody is going to be sympathetic to this project. Rejection is all part of the game.

The lobby of The Chalermradna Theater, now filled with cheap beer and sour people

Old signage with Thai, Roman and Chinese characters

The good experiences I've had tracking down old cinemas out-weigh the bad ones a hundred to one. Pictured above is Mr. Willapong, owner of a pet fish aquarium, and possessor of the most prolific memory in Udonthani, as far as I'm concerned. He was the one who was able to point out that the Chalermrad had not been knocked down. He also imparted valuable information about the 3 or 4 other theaters in Udon that are no longer with us. Many thanks to Mr. Willapong, a swell guy.

(The Chalermrad Theater closed down just 6 or 7 years ago. I was never able to find out when it opened, but I'm guessing it was in the 1950's, judging by the architecture).

The Vista Theater - Udonthani, Thailand

Not quite as dramatic a place as the Amporn (prior post), theVista Theater nonetheless dominates the city scape from its corner perch across from the open space of Tung Sri Meuang Park.

The Vista was the brain child of a local medical doctor, Dr. Sukum, who from what I gathered had a sort of celebrity status in the Udon of yesteryear. In its hay day, the Vista was an all out entertainment complex, complete with a bowling alley on the second floor. It must have been a real hoot.


But as with all the great theaters, the Vista lingers on listlessly as a shell of its former self, withering away year in and year out, through pounding rain and blazing sun, until the cold hand of economy decides it fate. With any luck, that cold hand will be full of cash and attached to a warm heart.

Entrance to the lobby.

Wasn't able to get an exact DOB, but I think it was sometime in the late 50's early 60's. Don't quote me on that.

The trash strewn lobby still contains a sign with movie show times. Notice that the last show of the day was at 24:00 -- a mid-night special.

Take a good look, the Vista is wonderful!

20-plus years have passed since its been vacant, I was told.

The Amporn -- Udonthani, Thailand

Easily the most physically and architecturally dramatic of the old theaters I've seen, the Amporn Theater stands dignified, in the heart of downtown Udonthani, Thailand.

There is little doubt that this place was at one time a world class movie theater.

Its design calls to mind a crown, and likely done with much deliberation and intent. Those letters are works of art by themselves.

My knowledge of Buddhist mythology is nil, but I'm pretty sure that the image on the cornice piece is part of Buddhist, or maybe Thai lore.

What was once the lobby is now a gutted shell, save for the staircase, rising up three stories.

The green tarp around the frontal region hints at something construction (or destruction) related. It would really be sad to see this place torn down.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get much data on the Amporn Theater. The vendors and shop keepers in the vicinity didn't seem too interested in talking to me about it. The only thing anybody could tell me with any certainty was that it closed down 10 years ago and that there is now a shoe shop in some retail space around the side. With little solid information to go on, I'll have to resort to speculation.

I speculate that the Amporn was built in the late 60's or early 70's. That's when Udonthani was awash with dollars from the US air-force base on the outskirts of town. From what I understand, the base at Udon was the largest Vietnam War era (or American War, depending on perspective) military installation in Thailand. Many a bombing missions originated at the Udonthani base, and soldiers stationed there spent their down time taking in movies and the like in town. My guess is that the Amporn was, in a beautiful twist of irony, a by-product of the war.

Again, this is all speculative information, so if anybody has any solid details or memories about the Amporn Theater, your comments are welcomed. Such a regal building must have a rich history.

(On a side note, Amporn translates to "sky," or "heavens.")