Terang Boelan (1937)

Directed by

Albert Balink

Genre

drama film

Country

Dutch East Indies

Rating

10.0 of 10 from 1 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two lovers run away together after one is nearly forced to marry an opium smuggler. The film is a romance with songs and beautiful scenery.

romanticlightheartedmusicalnostalgicadventurousclassicpioneering

What happens

Terang Boelan (Indonesian pronunciation: [t̪əˌraŋ ˈbulan]; Indonesian for "Full Moon", Terang Bulan in the Enhanced Spelling System) is a 1937 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. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Gadis jang Terdjoeal (1937)
• Fatima (1938)
• Ikan Doejoeng (1941)
• Pantjawarna (1941)
• Huwen op Bevel (1931)
• Matjan Berbisik (1940)
• Asmara Moerni (1941)
• Poetri Rimba (1941)