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free encyclopedia 1937 film from the Dutch East Indies For the song, see |
Terang Bulan . Terang Boelan Theatrical poster, Batavia Directed by Albert |
Balink Screenplay by Saeroen Starring Rd Mochtar Roekiah Eddie T. Effendi |
Kartolo Cinematography Joshua Wong Othniel Wong Music by Ismail Marzuki |
Production company Algemeen Nederlandsch Indisch Filmsyndicaat Release date 8 |
December 1937 ( 1937-12-08 ) Countries Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia ) |
Language Malay Indonesian Terang Boelan ( [təˈraŋ buˈlan] ; Indonesian for |
"Full Moon", Terang Bulan in the Enhanced Spelling System ) is a 1937 [a] film |
from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Written by Saeroen , directed by |
Albert Balink , and starring Rd Mochtar , Roekiah and Eddie T. Effendi, Terang |
Boelan follows two lovers who elope after one is almost forced to marry an |
opium smuggler. The film was shot in the Indies and Singapore, and was |
partially inspired by the 1936 Hollywood film The Jungle Princess . It was |
aimed at native audiences and included keroncong music, which was popular at |
the time, and several actors from Balink's previous work Pareh (1936). Terang |
Boelan was a commercial success in both the Indies and abroad, earning 200,000 |
Straits dollars in British Malaya . This success revived the faltering |
domestic film industry and inspired films aimed at Malay audiences in Malaya, |
creating a formula of songs, beautiful scenery and romance that was followed |
for decades afterwards. The Indonesian film historian Misbach Yusa Biran |
described it as a turning point in the history of Indonesian cinema for its |
catalytic effect on the industry's growth. Like many Indonesian films of the |
era, Terang Boelan has been lost since at least the 1970s. Plot [ edit ] |
Rohaya must separate from her lover, Kasim, so that she can marry her father's |
choice, the disreputable but rich Musa. The night before the wedding, Kasim |
plays the song " Terang Boelan " for Rohaya, and they agree to elope . The |
following day, Rohaya and Kasim escape from Sawoba Island to Malacca , where |
Kasim begins work at a drydock and Rohaya keeps busy as a housewife. They |
discover that Kasim's old friend Dullah has lived in Malacca for some time. |
Their life together is interrupted when Musa, who is revealed to be an opium |
dealer, discovers them. While Kasim is away at work, Rohaya's father comes and |
takes her back to Sawoba. Kasim, having discovered Musa's deeds, also returns |
to Sawoba and rallies the villagers to his side by telling them of Musa's |
opium dealings. He and Musa begin fighting. When it appears Kasim may lose, he |
is saved by Dullah, who had followed him back to Sawoba. The villagers and |
Rohaya's father agree that Kasim and Rohaya should be together, as they are |
truly in love. [b] Cast [ edit ] Roekiah as Rohaya Rd Mochtar as Kasim Kartolo |
as Dullah Eddie T. Effendi as Musa Muhin as Rohaya's father Roldiah Matulessy |
Background [ edit ] During 1934 and early 1935, all feature films released in |
the Dutch East Indies had been made by the American-educated Chinese- |
Indonesian director The Teng Chun . [1] His low budget but popular films were |
mainly inspired by Chinese mythology or martial arts, and although aimed at |
ethnic Chinese proved popular among native audiences because of their action |
sequences. [2] The Teng Chun's dominance was an effect of the Great Depression |
and changing market trends. The Great Depression had led to the Dutch East |
Indies government collecting higher taxes and cinemas selling tickets at lower |
prices, ensuring that there was a very low profit margin for local films. As a |
result, cinemas in the colony mainly showed Hollywood productions, while the |
domestic industry decayed. [3] The Teng Chun was able to continue his work |
only because his films often played to full theatres. [2] In an attempt to |
show that locally produced, well-made films could be profitable, the Dutch |
journalist Albert Balink , who had no formal film experience, [4] produced |
Pareh ( Rice ) in 1935 in collaboration with the ethnic Chinese Wong brothers |
(Othniel and Joshua), and the Dutch documentary filmmaker Mannus Franken . [5] |
The film cost 20 times as much as an average local production, [6] in part |
because of Balink's perfectionism, and was ultimately a failure. The |
Indonesian writer and cultural critic Armijn Pane wrote that Pareh had |
performed poorly with native audiences as it was seen as looking at them |
through European eyes. [6] Pareh bankrupted its producers, [6] and enabled The |
Teng Chun to dominate the industry – although with less traditional stories – |
for a further two years. [1] Production [ edit ] One of the Wong brothers , c. |
1947; the Wongs' collaboration with Balink on Terang Boelan was their second, |
after Pareh . By late 1936 Balink had obtained financial backing from several |
domestic and foreign companies with which he, the Wongs, and Franken opened |
the Dutch Indies Film Syndicate ( Algemeen Nederlandsch Indisch Filmsyndicaat |
, or ANIF) in Batavia (now Jakarta). Although this new establishment focused |
mainly on newsreels and documentaries, on 1 January 1937 ANIF announced that |
it would produce several feature films , one of which was Terang Boelan . [7] |
The story for Terang Boelan was written by Saeroen , a reporter with the |
newspaper Pemandangan who had close connections to the theatrical community, |
shortly after the domestic release of the American-produced Dorothy Lamour |
vehicle The Jungle Princess (1936), which served as an inspiration. [8] The |
Indonesian film historian Misbach Yusa Biran wrote that this gave Terang |
Boelan stylistic and thematic similarities to the earlier film. [9] The |
Indonesian film critic Salim Said also recognised such similarities, |
describing Terang Boelan as reflecting the "jungle princess" works popular at |
the time. [10] Saeroen named the fictional island on which Terang Boelan takes |
place "Sawoba" after the crew: Saeroen, Wong, and Balink. [11] Production had |
begun by February 1937, under Balink's direction and with the Wongs as |
cinematographers, only to be interrupted by the relocation of ANIF's offices. |
Filming had begun by May of that year. [12] Sources conflict as to whether |
Franken was involved: Biran wrote that Franken had been left in charge of the |
studio's documentaries, [13] while the American film scholar Karl G. Heider |
recorded Franken as co-directing the film. [14] As opposed to The Teng Chun, |
who aimed his films at lower-class audiences, Balink aimed his film at |
educated native Indonesians, attempting to show them not from a European |
perspective but as they viewed themselves. [15] According to Said, this arose |
as a reaction to Pareh 's failure and resulted in a less ethnological |
approach. [16] Terang Boelan was shot in black-and-white using highly |
flammable nitrate film at Cilincing in Batavia, Merak Beach in Banten , and |
Tanjong Katong in Singapore. [17] The use of nitrate film may have been a |
factor in the film's later loss. [18] The cast of Terang Boelan mainly |
consisted of actors who had appeared in Pareh . This included the leading |
actor , Rd Mochtar, and several minor players, including Eddie T. Effendi and |
Soekarsih. Other cast members, including the leading lady Roekiah and her |
husband Kartolo, were drawn from traditional toneel theatrical troupes; this |
may have been part of an effort to attract theatregoers. The film, which |
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