Dasima

Dasima

Theatrical poster
Directed by Tan Tjoei Hock
Produced by The Teng Chun
Starring
  • S. Soekarti
  • Mohammad Mochtar
  • M. Sani
Production
company
Java Industrial Film
Release dates
  • 1940 (Dutch East Indies)
Country Dutch East Indies
Language Malay

Dasima is a 1940 film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) directed by Tan Tjoei Hock and produced by The Teng Chun. It is the third adaptation of G. Francis' 1896 novel Tjerita Njai Dasima.

Plot

Winata and his wife Dasima often fight: Winata is often at work, trying to save enough money for their future, whereas Dasima feels he should come home more often. Ultimately this leads to them divorcing. Dasima is then attracted to Samiun and marries him. The relationship quickly sours. Samiun mistreats his wife and wastes their money, gambling away her jewelery. When Dasima makes signs that she wants a divorce and all of her money returned to her, Samiun hires a thug named Puasa to help kill her. They corner Dasima on a bridge, and she jumps to her death. Samiun and Puasa are soon after arrested by the police.[1]

Production

Dasima, produced by The Teng Chun for Java Industrial Film (JIF), was the directorial debut of Tan Tjoei Hock. The had discovered Tan whilst the latter worked as an unpaid assistant at a drama troupe which frequently performed at Prinsen Park (now Lokasari). Impressed, The asked Tan to join JIF.[2] Though Tan had never been involved in film, he accepted.[3]

Tan adapted the story for Dasima from G. Francis' 1896 novel Tjerita Njai Dasima, which had previously been adapted to the silver screen twice, once in 1929 and once in 1932. These earlier productions, both by Tan's Film, had been similar to extant stage versions of the story.[4] This production, however, was advertised as a "modern version" as it had been brought in accordance to more "modern" tastes.[5] As a result, there were several changes to the story,[1] including the removal of the term njai from the title,[3] a shift from a njai (a concubine) to an ordinary woman as the central character, and the removal of mystical elements present in the original work.[5]

The black-and-white film featured cinematography by WT Wei, with HB Angin as artistic director.[6] It starred S. Soekarti, Mohammad Mochtar, and M. Sani. It also featured S. Talib, Djaleha, Toehamsa, and Habibah.[1] Mochtar had been with Tan's since 1939's Alang-Alang. In these earlier films he had been partnered with Hadidjah as the romantic leads. Dasima was his first film without her; she was replaced by Soekarti, who had no previous acting experience.[5]

Legacy

The film was released in 1940.[1] Tan went on to become the most active film director in the Indies between 1940 and 1941,[3] directing nine films in the time.[7] JIF and its two subsidiaries, Action Film and Jakarta Pictures, released over a dozen further films before all were shut down following the Japanese occupation of the Indies in 1942.[8] Mochtar and Soekarsih acted in one further film together, a 1940 adaptation of Swan Pen's Melati van Agam, before Soekarsih left acting.[5]

The film is likely lost. The American visual anthropologist Karl G. Heider writes that all Indonesian films from before 1950 are lost.[9] However, JB Kristanto's Katalog Film Indonesia (Indonesian Film Catalogue) records several as having survived at Sinematek Indonesia's archives, and Biran writes that several Japanese propaganda films have survived at the Netherlands Government Information Service.[10]

References

Works cited

External links