Cinema was introduced for the first time to the public of Dutch East Indies (the name of colonized Indonesia) on 5 th December 1900. It started with a commercial announcement from Nederlandsche Bioskop Maatschappij, on Bintang Betawi daily, stating that there would be a great spectacle, which was “gambar idoep” (moving image) about events in Europe and South Africa from some documentary scenes, including when Netherlands’ Queen with His Majesty Hertog Hendrik entered Den Haag[2]. The show took place in a house next to an automotive shop called Maatschappij Fuchs in Tanah Abang, Batavia (Jakarta, at that time). The man behind this show was T.D. Tio Jr. (Said 1991: 16).
Twenty six years later, a local film was produced by NV Java Film Company—a silent film based on a Sundanese folktale entitled Loetoeng Kasaroeng (The Enchanted Monkey, 1926)[3] directed by Heuverdorp (a Dutchman) and produced by Kruger (a German) (Said, 1991: 16; Heider 1991: 15). There is a report stating that in 1929, the Chinese controlled eighty-five percent of the existing movie theaters (Said 1991: 16). And the pioneers in filmmaking from the Chinese people were the Wong brothers who directed Lily van Java (also known as Melatie van Java, The Jasmine of Java, 1928). Another Wong Brothers production is Si Tjonat (character’s name, 1929), the first Indonesian film set and made in Jakarta (Sen 1994: 15). The film was part of a repertoire of lenong, a form of people theatre of Betawi (Jakarta) local population (Sen 1994:15).
In the 1930s, the first film made by the idealistic group of filmmaking appeared. It is Pareh (Rice, original title is Het Lied van de Rijst, 1935), an anthropological film directed by Mannus Franken and Albert Balink[4]. The production company was Java Pacific Film, a Dutch-owned company in Bandung (Said 1991: 23). Teguh Karya writes that Pareh tried to express artistic values (Sen 1988: 5). The premiere was in Odeon, Den Haag on 20 th November 1936. Pareh displays the beauty of Indonesian scenery that was so exotic to Western eyes (Said 1991: 24). The film attempted to introduce Indonesian ways of life to the Dutch audience (Ismail 1986: 54). Technically, the film was of acceptable quality but produced no money on Indonesian market (Said 1991: 23).
In Pareh, director Albert Balink met producers/cinematographers Wong Brothers for the first time and they later made Terang Boelan (Full Moon, original title: Het Eiland der Droomen[5] 1937), the first successful film from the commercial group of filmmakers, and the one that gave birth to the first movie star: Miss Roekiah. The film was adapted from The Jungle Princess (USA: Wilhelm Thiele, 1936), a popular film at that time starring Dorothy Lamoure and set in Hawaii (Said 1991: 24). By early 1937, the finished film was ready for circulation and premiered in Orion Cinema, the popular cinema in Batavia.
Miss Roekiah became prima donna in Tan’s Film, and she was projected as the idol of poor people. Her films always became box office, whoever her co-star was. With Raden Mochtar, she played in Fatima (character’s name, Joshua Wong, Othniel Wong, 1938)—earning F 200 thousands—and in Gagak Item (Black Crows, Joshua and Othniel Wong, 1939), an imitation of Zorro. In 1940, she left Tan’s Film and co-starred with Raden Djemala in Roekihati (character’s name, 1940) and Koeda Sembrani (The Enchanted Horse, 1941).
Terang Boelan became the first commercially successful film since 1938 and it created a new trend in the star system until 1942[6]. The film takes place in a fancy island called Sawoba (stands for the names of Saroen-Wong-Balink (the scriptwriter, the producer and the director, respectively). The island imitated the Hawaiian style from Jungle Princess especially in the design, costume, flower necklaces on necks and guitars, and the duet song called Terang Boelan and Boenga Mawar (Roses). The film was also popular in Singapore and earned $2000 thousands in the first two months. Then Miss Roekiah was recruited by Tan’s Film and founded Terang Boelan Troep and went on tour to Singapore.
Terang Boelan phenomenon atracted people from theater (toneel) to move to film industry, and similar films were made with the same formula: Hollywood style, beautiful songs, fighting scenes, good-looking and popular actors and actresses, and beautiful sceneries (Said 1991: 27). Teguh Karya states that “The legacy of Terang Boelan has been a stereotype film story for the industry, and an established technique which has remained undeveloped and static” (quoted in Heider 1991: 16).
And the number of film productions increased rapidly with stories taken from popular stage plays adapted from box-office Western theaters such as Srigala Item (the Black Jackal) or Singa Laoet (The Sea Lion) from Zorro and Aladin, Djoela Djoeli Bintang Tujuh (Dance of the Seven Stars) from A Thousand and One Nights (Said 1991: 28). Other films imitated popular Hollywood films. For example, Tarzan gave birth to Poetri Rimba (Jungle Princess) and Rencong Aceh (The Acehnese Dagger); Dracula was the source for Tengkorak Hidoep (The Living Skull) (Said 1991: 30). One of the theater figures who became director is Andjar Asmara. In 1927, a Bandung paper claimed that 85% of movie theaters in Dutch East Indies belonged to the Chinese (Sen 1994: 14).Chinese people were the second class citizens—while the indigenous Indonesian people were considered the third class and European people the first citizens—hence they had many opportunities to do business, including in the film industry.
In 1937, the silent film era ended and Terang Boelan became the first sound film in Indonesia. The spoken language in all films in this era is Indonesian. I consider the films made by Dutch directors, and/or by Dutch film companies in this era Colonial films. Most of the films were made for commercial purposes. But, indeed, there are some documentary films which were made by Dutch directors to show the development of colonial land to the Dutch government (Italy: Boriello, 2007), such as Pareh and Tanah Sebrang (original title Land aan de Overkant, Mannus Franken 1938).
[2] For the beginning and development of cinema in Indonesia, see TheJakarta Post. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/01/01/history-039gambargambar-idoep039.html. 16th April 2008.
[3] The accuracy of the production year of the films in this thesis refers to Kristanto, JB. Katalog Film Indonesia 1926-2007. Jakarta: Penerbit Nalar, 2007
[4] (Kristanto 2007: 4)
[5] (Kristanto 2007: 5)
[6] In Indonesia, filmmakers use the terms “star system” and “triangle system” for production process. The former confirms that it is the movie stars who play the most important role, thus belongs to commercial filmmakers. The latter provides the cooperation among director-producer-scriptwriter, especially in scenario development, hence belongs to idealistic filmmakers group. For the case of triangle system, for example the making of Jomblo (The Bachelors) directed by Hanung Bramantyo, check: MyIndo. http://myindo.com/story/253.asp. 1st July 2008. For further information about star system, please see: Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_system_(film). 1 st July 2008.
