The first film in the world was projected at the Grand Caf in Paris, France on December 28, 1895 by the Lumiere Brothers. Its reputed debut in Asia was in the following year in Bombay at Watsons Hotel. Hardly a year later in 1897, the first cinematographe as it was called then, was shown at the Alhambra in Singapore by
Robert William Paul, a British inventor and producer, who (as described in www.victorian-cinema.net/paul.html) was one of the first English producers to realise the possibilities of cinema as a means of presenting short comic and dramatic stories.. By early 1897, he exported his projectors, which he called the Theatograph to Europe and British dependencies. He advertised the screenings as the cinematographe.
Some months later, a screening took place in Singapore. The films shown appear to be made up of scenes of the royal procession of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. It must have been a soulful experience for the British audience. As reported in the Malay Mail of August 3, 1897, the audience at the Alhambra theatre momentarily forgetting to marvel at the new invention instead rose simultaneously and sang a verse of God Save the Queen. This was followed by ringing cheers, with the Borneo (Native Police)meanwhile standing at the salute.
Three months later, another screening was held at the Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of present-day Malaysia. The advertisement in the Malay Mail read Edison Projectoscope. Tonight, Saturday, 27 November at 6.30 p.m. Lifelike representation of scenes from actual life. It was not reported if the audience reacted to the screenings in the same way as in Singapore. It was a different situation when the commoners were given the opportunity three days later to witness a screening
in a theatre in Petaling Street, a Chinese-dominated area not far from the Club. Used to seeing only wayang kulit, many in the audience went behind the screen expecting to see someone manipulating the images. When they discovered that it was the projectionist who was producing the images by cranking the projector, they thought that he was some kind of a magician or medicine man! Thirteen films were shown, among them a wrestling match, cock fighting, a trapeze act, Queen Victorias Golden Jubilee procession and an approaching train. The show went on for oneand-a half hours but came to an abrupt conclusion through failure of the light. The final show for the year was advertised on December 1, 1897.
By the turn of the century, more and more motion pictures from Europe and Asia visually introduced the outside world to the peoples of the Nusantara. The first film in Indonesia was shown at Tanah Abang on 5 December 1900. It was brought in by De Nederlandsche Bioscope Maatschappij and advertised in the local newspaper, Bintang Betawi. As yet the medium did not have a name and so it was called the Royal Bioscope. The next few years saw screenings of short films by the companies of the American Biograph and the American Animatograph. In the Philippines, the first films were shown in August of 1897.
In February 1905, The Grand American Bioscope and Phonograph Company screened newsreels showing scenes of the Transvaal Wars and the Brooklyn Bridge in New York at the High Street Theatre Hall in Kuala Lumpur. Also included were short narrative films. Among them were Cinderella & Her Glass Slipper, Mesmerism and Wonderful Dream Life, and Passion of Christ. Edwin S. Porters The Great Train Robbery was another addition to the many screenings of the year. The films final scene of an actor pointing a gun and shooting at the audience shocked and thrilled audiences.
The novelty of film became profitable, and it was not long before films from Hollywood were brought in by foreign distributors that began to make Singapore their regional headquarters. Serial films then made their appearance with two reels showing each week. The most popular films were Westerns and comedies. The silent movies showing the exploits of Tom Mix and other popular stars of the day were a hit with the audience who were made up of working class Malays, Indians and Chinese. Comedy went down very well with the locals and the skits by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton had them in stitches.
Foreign distributors saw that film was catching on and soon decided to make Singapore their base for the region. By 1913 there were five movie houses in Singapore with twelve to fourteen theatres being built all over the Malay Peninsula. By 1929, this had increased to thirty-five, operating in sixteen towns. In addition, there were between ten to twenty theatres in smaller towns that occasionally showed films. Many of these films were shown in amusement parks that also had cinemas. These were mostly owned by the Shaw Brothers. Upton Close, an American adventurer, observed that in 1927 he saw many temporary screening halls being set up. Some of them were owned by Malays while the majority were owned by Chinese.
The abundance of film supply coming from distributors in Singapore made it possible for the building of more movie theaters. With business booming, it made sense for the importing firms to build movie houses themselves to cater to the increasing audience. These foreign films were, in fact, beneficial for the local actors and industry. They became an important source of reference for stories. Many of the acting styles and mannerisms were copied from these films or were adapted to local needs. But it must be said that on the downside, they were also contributing to the decline in the appreciation of local culture and mannerisms.
Film: Just another Medium to Tell Stories
Stories and storytelling were an important aspect of Malay cultural life. Ancient storytellers told tales from mythology, acted out epics and retold fables and folk tales. The ordinary man was not to be left out. The rural environment all around him was a vast storehouse of knowledge and ideas from which he drew. He devised his own folk tales and poems and created riddles and proverbs based on what he saw around him. And he did it with imagination and artistry that came from his close affinity with nature.
Modernity and the quest to create a better life for himself and his family forced his move to the city. This began to separate him from the rural environment that he and his soul had been a part of. Many Malays who migrated to Singapore in search of a better life began to lose the spiritual aspects of their lives that had been in their culture for centuries. (In his film, Pendekar Bujang Lapok Raggedy Bachelor Warriors, P. Ramlee speaks out strongly about this in the portrayal of the ferry boss who had become a capitalist who had forgotten his roots.)
The Malays involved in bangsawan however, still maintained much of the traditional culture and this was reflected not only in the characters and stories that they presented but also in their own lives. They were sincere and thoughtful, treated each other like family and their word was ever their bond. They stayed together through thick and thin even if the days takings were meager. At times, they made do with very little food.
They brought much of this character when they crossed over into film. Since living quarters and a monthly salary were provided by the producers, life became much easier for them. Nevertheless they continued to live and treat each other as family and were just as true and sincere in their dealings. P. Ramlee alluded to this aspect of innocence and naivete in his film Seniman Bujang Lapok. During a screen test, Ajiz (played by Aziz Sattar) is unable to pretend that he is talking to a girl - because the stand-in for the girl was a man! He finally gives up and addresses her as a man much to the annoyance of the film director (who actually did not grasp the fact that this was in reality, method acting)!
The early actors innately simple character was reflected in their dialogue and mannerisms in the films that they were involved with. For them film was just another medium, a continuation of the Malay art of storytelling. But all this was to change as modernity and its attendant social upheavals began to affect their principles and caused it to come into conflict more and more with their traditional way of life.
The Earliest Films
Malaysia shares its early cinema history with Singapore because both countries were collectively part of British Malaya during the colonial era with Singapore being a Crown Colony. Malaya gained its independence from British colonial rule in 1957 and became known as the Federation of Malaya. In 1963, Malaysia was formed, comprised of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak. Singapore was ousted from Malaysia in 1965 and it then became an independent country.
The first film produced in Singapore was Xin Ke (The Immigrant, 1927). It began production in 1926 and was screened on 4 March, 1927 at the Victoria Theatre. It was a black and white silent movie directed by Guo Chaowen and produced by the Nanyang Liu Beijin Film Company. It was made by an entirely Chinese crew and was targeted at the immigrants coming to Singapore - a striking similarity to film production in the United States in the 1910s. The story was a melodrama narrating the experiences of a fresh immigrant to Singapore. The film suffered at the hands of the Censorship Board. For some unfathomable reason, almost a third of the film was cut. By coincidence, the first films of neighbouring countries, Indonesia and Thailand were completed towards the end of the silent era. The films were Loetong Kasaroeng (The Enchanted Monkey, Indonesia, 1926) directed by a Dutchman, L. Heuveldorp and Double Luck (Thailand, 1927).
The first film producer to make a Malay-language movie was from India. He was subsequently followed by Chinese entrepreneurs from Shanghai, China. Film directors also came from India, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, the Philippines and the United States of America. They converged on Singapore as it was the focus of business and commerce in the early part of the 20th century. From 1933 onwards, local film production was sporadic. The Second World War brought a temporary halt to production. With the end of the War, film production resumed vigourously. The 1950s and early 1960s subsequently became known as the Golden Age of Malay cinema. A whole new form of entertainment came into being for the region creating in the process, many local film stars, directors and other film personnel. This had far-reaching effects for the future of the Singaporean and later, the Malaysian film industry in Kuala Lumpur.
A great majority of those involved in cinema in Singapore in the 1940s and 1950s were from Malaya, Indonesia, the south of the Philippines and the surrounding islands. Some of the actors were with bangsawan troupes from Indonesia that had disbanded in Singapore due to a lack of audience. Most of the actors had been involved in bangsawan or in some aspects of the traditional art forms and therefore had a basic understanding of acting, performing and stagecraft. Many elements of this traditional background became reflected in the films made in Singapore in the form of flashy costumes and sets as well as highly-stylised acting. These early actors adapted easily to the new medium of film as well as being involved in all stages of production that would give them the required experience to later helm productions.
Two feature films commenced production in 1933 in Singapore. One was an American-sponsored film called Samarang, directed by Ward Wing, written by his wife, Lori Bara and acted in by Theresa Seth, Captain Cockle and some local actors. Some of the scenes included underwater photography. It was a story of the dramatic adventures of a pearl diver. It was 59 minutes long and was screened at the Rivoli Cinema in June, 1933. A reviewer, Mordaunt Hall, was impressed with the scenic shots of the sea and islands and the authenticity of the climactic scene involving Ahmang, the hero who battles a shark that killed his little brother. It was virtually a silent film with some synchronized music and title cards to explain some of the action.
The other was the first Malaylanguage film to be produced in Singapore: Leila Majnun. It was produced by Rai Bahadur Seth Hurdutroy Motilal Chamria (known simply as S.M. Chisty), owner of the Motilal Chemical Company of Bombay that was distributing carbon arc lamps for film projectors. The film was made at a cost of 50,000 Straits Dollars and was directed by B.S. Rajhans. Production began in 1933 and the film was finally released on 27 March 1934 at the Marlborough Theatre during the Hari Raya Haji holidays. It
starred popular bangsawan actors of the times: M. Suki, Fatimah Jasmin, Syed Ali Mansoor, Tijah Khairuddin, Yem, Shariff Medan and Ahmad Pahlawan.
The story of Leila Majnun came from a Middle Eastern love story which was later popularized by the Persian poet, Nizami Ganjawi. It told a story of unrequited love between Leila and Qays, a poet who was considered mad (Arabic: majnun). The father of Leila rejects him and Leila is forced to marry another man. She later dies of illness and Qays carves his last poem for her on a rock. This story was very popular with the Malay audience in Malaya and Indonesia and appeared in numerous stagings of the bangsawan. In India alone, the story has been filmed sixteen times. B.S. Rajhans, the director, went on to direct many more films (including a remake titled, Laila Majnun in 1962 for CathayKeris Studios. Rajhans went on to be the longest-serving director in the Malay film industry working at both the two major studios, Malay Film Productions and Cathay-Keris.
Leila Majnun was said to be nothing more than bangsawan on screen in terms of story and acting. This was perhaps because the actors were only stage actors and had no knowledge of screen acting. It only had a limited run in a number of cinemas due to distribution problems. However, it was advertised in the papers then as being a hit with the audience. Ironically, M. Suki who was the first Malay to be a screen hero never had the opportunity to see himself on the screen as he was touring with a bangsawan troupe. Today, Leila Majnun is considered a lost film. No print of it exists. Even P. Ramlee, who had wanted to see it in the 1950s, was unable to procure a copy.
The first local Malay director, A. R. Tompel was himself a bangsawan veteran who had traveled with a troupe playing to audiences in the Malay Peninsula and the Borneo Territories. As a writer later in film, he came up with scripts that had credible characters and excellent dialogue for many memorable films most of them in collaboration with P. Ramlee. He was famous for his tongue-in-cheek humour, witty lines and nonchalant delivery of jokes.
Paramount Pictures shot three films in Malaya that were directed by Clyde C. Elliot: Bring Em Back Alive (1932), The Devil Tiger (1934) and Booloo the White Tiger (1937). Booloo starred Ratna Asmara, Collin Tipley and Fred
Polin. Two brothers from Shanghai,
Run Run Shaw and Runme Shaw saw the commercial potential of Leila Majnun. Seeing that they could make money by producing movies for a predominantly Malay audience, the Shaws brought in film equipment and technicians in 1937 and set up a film production studio in Jalan Ampas in Singapore. The Shaws, comprising of six brothers had a film company in Shangahai called Unique Film Productions that made silent films. Seeking new opportunities, Runme came to Singapore. Two years later in 1926, he was joined by his sixth brother, Run Run. In 1930, they started South Seas Film Studio which later became the Shaw Studio. Later, under the Shaw Organisation, they built an empire of cinemas and amusement parks in Singapore and Malaya.
The Shaws early films (before the Second World War) featured bangsawan actors and were all helmed by Chinese directors that included Hou Yao and the Wan Hoi Ling brothers from Shanghai, China. The actors in these films were recognisable faces from bangsawan, like Syed Ali AlAttas, Pak Yem, Momo Latif, Hafsah, Shariff Medan, Fatimah Jasmin and M. Suki. The films, however, failed to connect with the local audience even though they carried the familiar bangsawan elements. Perhaps the reason was because they were all adapted from Chinese stories. Among the films produced between 1938 and 1941 were: Mutiara (Pearl), Bermadu (Polygamy), Topeng Shaitan (Mask of the Devil), Hanchur Hati (Heart Broken), Ibu Tiri (Stepmother), Terang Bulan di Malaya (Full Moon in Malaya), Mata Hantu (Ghostly Eyes) and Tiga Kekasih (Three Lovers). Press reviews were generally favourable to these films although technically the films were said to have many problems. Briefly, the Tan and Wong Film Company from Indonesia brought competition to the Shaws with their film Menantu Derhaka directed by B.S. Rajhans. Both companies ended their filmmaking activities when the Second World War broke out in Malaya in 1941.
In July of 1935, another studio that was to become the Shaw Brothers only rival, officially came into being. This was Cathay Organisation incorporated as Associated Theatres Ltd. by Mrs. Loke Yew and headed by Khoo Teik Ee as Director and Chairman, a relative by marriage and adviser to Mrs. Loke and later trustee to
Loke Wan Tho. A year earlier, a throrough study and testing of projection equipment was made by Khoo and Max Baker, an Englishman working under Mrs. Loke Yew, the mother of (Dato) Loke Wan Tho. Khoo in effect, laid the foundations for the Cathay Organisation, an empire that was to become like the Shaw Organisation. Loke took up the reins as the Chairman after returning from his studies at Cambridge. Loke then pioneered, built and expanded one of the two major movie exhibition, distribution and filmmaking studios.
One of the first things that he did was to build the tallest building in Southeast Asia in 1939 the Cathay Building. It was opened by Loke in the same year as the headquarters of the British-Malaya Broadcasting Corporation. It had 17 floors housing a hotel and was innovative for its time because of air conditioning and a plush theatre. This initiative was almost like a challenge to the Shaw Brothers who were monopolizing the industry. And then in a further challenge in 1953, Loke ventured into film production. He teamed up with Ho Ah Loke, an engineer who owned Keris Films to create a new entity, Cathay-Keris Studios. Both CathayKeris and Shaw Brothers competed with each other for the same Malay audience and in the process, came up with two different approaches and styles.
There was hardly a local film industry at this time and so foreign films, mostly from Hollywood ruled. At the time, 70 percent of films shown in Singapore were from the United States while 16 percent were from the United Kingdom and 13 percent were Chinese. After the War, cinemas were required by law to show British films for at least one week or be slapped with a fine. The iron hand of the British colonialists was evident in more ways than one and it seemed at the time that a local film industry was never to see the light of day. But the Japanese occupation of Malaya and Singapore from 1941 to 1945 brought about a different kind of film production. The Japanese took over the Cathay building to house the Japanese Broadcasting Department, the Military Propaganda Department and the Military Information Bureau. The building also served as the residence of the famed Japanese director, Yasujiro Ozu in the last years of the war.
These films produced by the Japanese in Singapore were of course, primarily propagandistic. Many film industry personnel were rounded up to work for a Japanese film company, Eiga Haikya Sha which took over all of the theatres and controlled distribution in Malaya and Singapore. Stage performances also came under their purview. Only films passed by Eiga could be shown. A number of films by major studios of Japan like Shochiku, Toho Studios and Daei Studios were shot on location in Malaya. Among the films were Southern Winds 2, Tiger of Malaya and Singapore All-Out Attack helmed by Japanese directors. This was a parallel to the American productions of the Why We Fight series of films made by famous Hollywood film directors like John Ford and Frank Capra during the war. Occasional screenings of Hollywood films that had been in the library would be held at the Cathay building cinema in Singapore for Japanese officers. War films were banned and only outdated Indian films and Japanese propaganda films were allowed to be shown to the public. Among the titles were Singapore Sokogeki, Marat Na Tora (March to Singapore) and Shina No Yoru (A Night in China) with Chinese and Japanese stars. A feature called Tokyo Symphony was allowed to be shown even though it was a love story closely resembling Chaplins City Lights.
The Japanese held classes for the locals to learn the Japanese language. Classes in appreciation of Japanese culture were also imposed upon them. Many quintessentially Japanese films were shown. Among them were the works of the Japanese masters, Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa. P. Ramlee and some of those who would become directors in the 1950s would have been affected by the themes and subjects of these films. This can be conspicuously seen in the films of Ramlee. As an actor (and later, director), Omar Rojiks rendition of a brutal Japanese captain in Matahari (Ramon Estella, 1958) was stirring and true to form and would have undoubtedly come from his experiences during the war.
Immediately after the war, Chinese-language films began to be made in Singapore. The just-founded New China Film Company produced The Light of Malaya (1946), a documentary of the anti-Japanese resistance. In the same year, the Zhong Hua Film (China Screen) produced Blood and Tears of the Chinese Immigrants, the first local Chinese feature film. Yin Hailing, a woman director with China Screen made Lost Souls Abroad (1946), a film that reminded Singapores Chinese of their roots in the old country. Only in the 1960s were more Chinese-language films made: Lion City by Cathay-Keris and Black Gold, produced by Era Movie. Both films were directed by Yi Sui. Chong Gay Organisations The Two Sides of the Bridge directed by Lim Ann came in 1978.
Malay Cinema Takes Off
The Shaw Brothers were not the kind to give up in the face of adversity. After the War, they returned to establish a studio system modeled on the ones in Hollywood. With monthly-salaried actors, and directors from India, China, the Philippines and the United States who were brought in on contract, the Shaw Brothers produced films under their production studio, Malay Film Productions (MFP). Among the directors were B.S. Rajhans, L. Krishnan (a local who had worked on film in India as an assistant director), S. Ramanathan, K.M. Basker, V. Girimaji, K.R.S. Shastry, B.N. Rao, Phani Majumdar, Kidar Sharma, Dhiresh Ghosh, Chew Cheng Kok, Loh Wei, Cabin Yeo, Laurie Friedman, Arthur C. Simmons, Eddy Infante, T.C. Santos, Rolf Bayer, Ramon Estella and Lamberto V. Avellana.
The directors contracts specified that they had to write their own scripts and so many of the Indian directors took their stories from the successful films of India and adapted them to the local context. Song, dance and melodrama were the order of the day and these were all readily lapped up by the Malay audience as they were used to the same kind of fare in bangsawan. The assistant directors were undoubtedly Malays as they were the personnel through which the director would communicate with the actors and crew. Calling the shots on behalf of the director was not only seen as a duty but was also a source of pride. It helped to build their self confidence and prepared them for the day they would take over. The entire production personnel, crew and Malay actors worked side by side with the Indian directors and eagerly picked up all aspects of production.
Of course, there were some Malays both at MFP and at CathayKeris who were not interested in learning new things. Neither were the Indian directors running a school. Everyone had to pick up things on the job. Some of the directors were generous with their knowledge while others were not. B. S. Rajhans was always apprehensive about the locals taking over but he became one of the longest-serving directors. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why he created scripts. on the set rather than write it down.
Film production immediately after the War began with Seruan Merdeka (The Call to Freedom, 1946). It was directed by B. S. Rajhans for the Malayan Arts Production company owned by the same businessman who had produced Leila Majnun. The script for Seruan Merdeka was written by Salleh Ghani. Salleh was a novelist and short story writer as well as a journalist. He was given the lead role in the film as Lt. Rashid, playing beside Rokiah and Johar
Effendi as well as other actors like Rokiah Hanafi, Syed Ali Al-Attas, Bachtiar Effendi, Suhara Effendi, Daeng Harris, Siti Tanjung Perak, Laila, Jaafar Wiryo (a bangsawan actor from Indonesia), and some Chinese actors. Salleh went on to act in many more films and was also an assistant director on a number of films.
Seruan Medeka tried to appeal initially to both the Malay and Chinese audiences by depicting the two races joining forces to fight against the Japanese who had occupied the country during the Second World War. This has been the only Malay film then and since with such a theme and it drew audiences to the cinema for Malay films. But due to the lack of theatres for exhibition (and also possibly due to the monopoly of the Shaw Brothers), the company was forced to discontinue film production.
The first film to come out of the Shaw studios was Singapura DiWaktu Malam, (Singapore by Night, 1947) directed by B. S. Rajhans and starring Siput Sarawak, Bachtiar Effendy and Jaafar Wiryo. It was a story about prostitutes. At the time, Malay women made up the largest number of prostitutes in Singapore. Perhaps because of its subject matter, the film was a success. This prompted the Shaws to produce Chempaka (Magnolia, 1947) starring Kasma Booty who appeared for the first time on screen (and went on to become a heart-throb). Pisau Beracun (The Poisoned Knife, 1948) followed, also directed by Rajhans and starring Kasma Booty, Bachtiar Effendi and Jaafar Wiryo. The next film Chinta (Love, 1948) was directed by L. Krishnan. It was a period drama set in the fictitious kingdom of Indrapura in ancient Brunei and was of how a village girl falls in love with the king of Indrapura (not knowing that hes the king, of course). Song and music were provided by Zubir Said and Alfonso Soliano. The film, starring the stars, Roomai Noor and Siput Sarawak and Jaafar Wiryo however, failed at the box-office but it introduced an actor in a small role who was destined for great things P. Ramlee.
Between the years of 1948 and 1951, many actors also doubled as assistant directors while others were assisting the foreign cameramen and directors. These were the formative years for them wherein they picked up the rudiments of directing and cinematography that would enable them to be directors and cameramen in their own right. In Kembar (Twins, 1950), Abu Bakar Ali (who became P. Ramlees cameraman) began as an assistant cameraman. S. Roomai Noor and Jaafar Wiryo were assistant directors. In Aloha (1950) A.R. Tompel was assistant director. Haji Mahadi was assistant director and dialogue writer for Rayuan Sukma (Heartfelt Plea, 1951). P. Ramlee wrote the gurindam (versified dialogue). By 1952, both Tompel and Mahadi were to helm productions for Nusantara and Malay Film Productions respectively.
Buluh Perindu (1953) was the first colour film and was directed by B.S. Rajhans. As it was a period movie, about a third of the film was shot in Chuping in the north of Perlis and required elephants for some scenes. Wan Khazim Wan Din, a local, was the one who had the available elephants. He was a tall, handsome man and could also play the violin. Rajhans invited him to come to Singapore to work at
MFP. Wan Khazim laughed it off but later, political circumstances
(he was Secretary-General of the
banned leftist party Angkatan Pemuda Insaf) determined his departure for Singapore. Joining Malay Film Productions, he became a member of the camera crew and also played some bit roles. He was the policeman in Penarek Becha, a violinist in Anak-ku Sazali (My Son, Sazali, 1956) and a dancer in Hang Tuah (The Warrior, Hang Tuah, 1956).
Other companies slowly began to mushroom. Among them were Nusantara Film Company (owned by Hsu Chiao Meng, a cameraman from Shanghai), Rimau Film Productions that was started by L. Krishnan after he left MFP, Keris Productions, Shah Film Productions, A.M. Film Company, Gafico Film Co., Shah Film Productions, United Film Productions, in which Ho Ah Loke had a share and Maria Menado
Productions. Rimau Film Productions was initially a joint venture between Ho Ah Loke and Gian Singh of Singapore (a Sikh company) who were involved in film distribution. Ho was needed to distribute local films. Gian Singh soon pulled out because it did not want to be involved in the high-risk movie production business.
Both Gian Singh and Maria Menado Productions (owned by Maria Menado, a leading actress) were the very few non-Chinese companies to be involved in the film industry at the time. Marias involvement as a producer ended when she married the Sultan of Pahang and left the industry in 1963. She produced only one film: Bayangan di-Waktu Fajar (Shadows at Dawn, 1962) starring S. Roomai Noor, Latifah Omar and Rendro Karno. It was a coproduction with PERFINI of
Indonesia headed by Usmar Ismail,. the father of Indonesian cinema.
Before this, Usmar had directed (under the pseudonym, P.L. Kapoor) the film Korban Fitnah (Victim of Defamation, 1959) starring Sukarno M. Noer, S.N. Alcaf, Siput Sarawak and Maria Menado. It was a coproduction with Cathay-Keris. The reason for Usmar to come to Malaya was to make his own films to compete with that of Shaws. Unlike Malaya, Indonesia was not facing competition from American movies but that of the Shaw Brothers!
H.M. Shah was the advertising manager in Utusan Melayu, a Malay newspaper. He hired L. Krishnan to direct Kasih Menumpang (Borrowed Love, 1953), with actors S. Roomai Noor and Rosini. It was Shahs one and only production. The film was bought by the Chinese government for screening in China as the subject matter was thought relevant for the people. Shah then shifted direction to buy films from the Middle East and dubbed them into Malay for local release. Nusantara Film Co. made its first film, Pelangi (Rainbow, 1951), directed by Naz Achnas from Sumatera starring singers, Ismail Mukassim and Nona Asiah, the only film that they had ever starred in. Nusantara became the first to offer a local to direct a feature. A. R. Tompel, under the pseudonym of Armaya directed six films: Perkahwinan Rahsia (Secret Wedding, 1952), Norma (The Girl, Norma, 1952), Chinta Murni (Pure Love, 1953), Sehati Serasa (Of One Heart, 1953), Sesal Tak Sudah (Lifelong Regret, 1954) and Seniati (The Girl, Seniati, 1954). Perhaps due to Tompels inexperience, it appears that Perkahwinan Rahsia did not turn out well. The producer, Hsu Chiao Meng took over and the direction was credited to him using the pseudonym of M. Wijaya. Nusantara made about nine more films before closing down.
An American company set up Sound Master of New York, Inc. and made one film, Kampong Sentosa (Sentosa Village, 1950) directed by B. Reaves Eason with actors Raja Hamidah and M. Nor Lambak. United Malay Film Co. made Angin Berpesan (Messages in the Wind) which was shot in Kelantan and directed by Naz Achnas. The film starred M. Suki, Zara Agus, Noranimuti, Salooma and M. Nor Lambak. Gafico Film Co. made Ibulah Shorga (Heaven is at Mothers Feet, 1968) directed by Sudarmaji and starring Omar Suwita, Aziz Jaafar, Saamah, Saadiah and Rahmah Rahmat. These independent studios could not survive because both Shaws and Cathay Organisation practiced a closed-door policy. They owned and operated their own cinema chains and thus prevented the screening of films that were not produced by them.
Building Theatres for Films
The first cinema to be built in Singapore was by an Indian jewellery company. It was called The Paris Cinema built in 1903 and was on Victoria Street. This was followed by the Roxy on East Coast Road. When Runme Shaw first started out, he operated using a projector brought from Shanghai. He screened films in make-shift wooden shacks and open fields and peddled around the estates on a bicycle where he screened his films. By 1927, he had leased the theatre in Tanjong Pagar
and brought his brother, Run Run to help him out. By 1939, coupled with the success of the talkies, they began an empire that included 139 cinemas and amusement parks in Singapore, Malaya, Hong Kong and Thailand. Next on the scene was Ho Ah Loke. He was to play a significant role in the development of cinema in Malaysia and Singapore and later with both the Shaws and Loke Wan Tho of Cathay Organisation. Ho was an engineer who started out in 1925 by buying a cinema in Ipoh. He would also peddle a bicycle carrying film reels to neighbouring towns to show his films. To prevent rivals from giving him competition, he bought another cinema in Ipoh. Five years later, he took over cinemas in some major towns. In 1934, he sold off his interests to Runme Shaw but held onto a 15-year lease on the Odeon in Kuala Lumpur and the Odeons of Ipoh and Penang in the north of peninsula Malaya.
Before the establishment of Associated Theatres (AT), Loke Wan Thos half-brother, Wan Yat already operated the Odeon theatre in Kuala Lumpur. The main reason for incorporating AT was to rival the cinema built by Ong Ee Lim who owned a theatre called the Oriental in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. By August 1936, AT had opened the Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur. When movie audiences increased in Singapore, the iconic Cathay building was built there in 1937 with the Cathay theatre appearing in October 1939. Loke only had two years of getting a feel of the industry when the Japanese invaded Malaya in 1941 but he was the first to reopen for business after the war. This was with the reopening of the Cathay on 23 September, 1945 with the documentary film, Desert Victory.
Loke Wan Tho and Ho Ah Loke were both Singaporeans and so had a different perspective on things as compared to the Shaw Brothers who were from Hong Kong. Loke had realised the need to bring movies to the interior. Subsequently he formed Caravan Films in December of 1947. Mobile film units went deep into rubber and palm oil estates bringing movies to the Chinese and Indian workers and the Malays in villages. In 1948 he formed International Theatres Ltd. and acquired a chain of theatres. He now controlled 19 cinemas all the way from Singapore to Penang covering small and major towns. But the Shaws cinemas still outnumbered Cathays by a two-to-one ratio. More sites for cinemas and partners were needed by Loke.
By 1953 Loke had built a number of theatres in North Borneo (today Sabah), nearby Brunei and Seria in Sarawak. The cinemas also doubled as venues for live stage performances including strip tease shows. A film distribution department, International Film Distributors Ltd. had been set up in 1951 to not only serve Cathay but also the over 200 independent theatres in Malaya, Singapore and the Borneo territories. The department later became Cathay Film Distributors Ltd. In 1955, Associated Theatres and Loke Theatres amalgamated and became International Theatres. Loke Wan Tho was determined to make Cathay Organisation the dominant film producer, distributor and exhibitor in the region.
While the Shaw Brothers and Loke Wan Tho were busy expanding their empires, Ho Ah Loke started Rimau Productions in 1951 and produced his first film, Ramli Ramlah (The Lovers, Ramli and Ramlah, 1951) directed by Jaafar Wiryo. Other films followed but it was clear that Ho could not compete with the quality coming from Malay Film Productions. He then formed Keris Films and produced a few more films with the help of actor, S. Roomai Noor. Ho had earlier met Loke in 1948 and had been made a director of Associated Theatres, International Theatres and Loke Theatres. He also held the post of head of the Film Booking Department.
Ho started his own company, Keris Film Productions (formerly Rimau Films) of which he was the Managing Director. In a merger with Loke in 1953, Cathay-Keris Productions was created.
The Shaws company name and studio main titles for the Malay Film Productions were all made in Hong Kong at the time. This was because an animation camera was required for the process. When Ho Ah Loke found out that there was an animation camera at the Malayan Film Unit (MFU) in Kuala Lumpur, he met with and cajoled Gillie Potter, the Art Director to make the new companys present title as well as other titles. As it
was something new for him and chance for experimentation, Potter agreed. This was however, a moonlighting job for him. Helping him was Goh Meng Huat, his assistant and protg and who would become Malaysias first animator.
Potter went over to Singapore and took still photographs of the Cathay building where the offices of Cathay Organisation were situated. It was at the time the highest building in Singapore. During the War it had been used by the Japanese army officers as their headquarters. When the Japanese invaded the country, many Hollywood movies were still there and they had a good time screening the films for their
enjoyment. Using the photographs of the building as a background, Potter and Goh animated the titles that were required and shot them under the Bell and Howell animation camera at MFU.
Among the titles they made for the Cathay Organisation were those advertising films that were Now Showing, Next Change or were Coming. Cathay-Keris had two keris (Malay daggers) coming together from off-screen followed by the studios name. Potters work was as good as anything coming out of Hong Kong. The main titles for the films of Cathay-Keris were all done by Mat Sentol, an artist who came to work at the studio and later became an actor, singer, writer and director in his own right. He was very innovative and thought up many animation and visual effects that were either done in-camera or by shooting it on highcontrast film and then having it superimposed over the live action. This was when Cathay-Keris began to have their own laboratory. Mat Sentol became in effect, the countrys first animator in the feature film industry.
Stories and Styles of the Early Films
The directors from India initially adapted Indian film stories and Indian styles of storytelling that were already popular with the locals. Other stories were from bangsawan or from the abundant legends, folk tales and historical incidents in the country. Soon inspiration came from foreign films and texts, among them: Hamlet, Oedipus Rex, Les Miserables, Wuthering Heights, Arabian Nights, The Thief of Baghdad and Little Women.
L. Krishnan adapted a number of Western and Indian stories for his films. His film Bakti (Dedication, 1950) starring S. Roomai Noor, Kasma Booty, P. Ramlee and Siput Sarawak was an adaptation of Les Miserables. It received rave reviews and was celebrated s the best Malay movie of the moment and one that correctly portrayed the lifestyle of the Malays. Takdir Ilahi (Gods Will, 1950) starring Neng Yatimah and P. Ramlee was based on an Indian story, Inaya Saundhari. Antara Senyum dan Tangis (1952) starring P. Ramlee and Rokiah was based on the story of a Chinese film brought in by the Shaw Brothers.
Selamat Tinggal Kekaseh-ku (Goodbye My Love, 1955) starring S. Roomai Noor and M. Amin was directed by L. Krishnan. It was adapted from the popular Indian story Devadas that had been remade many times in India. It caused a controversy during its screening in the east coast state of Kelantan. The public threatened to burn the theatre because the film depicted the hero in love with a Chinese girl and getting drunk in the process! Cinta Gadis Rimba (1958) was adapted from Harun Aminurrashids novel of the same name. It was shot in Sarawak in a village in the interior. The local culture was very well depicted in the film. The story had S. Roomai Noor in love with the headmans daughter. The problem was: she actually fell in love with him. To save the situation, Roomai Noor was smuggled out of the village before dawn and spirited out of the vicinity.
Iman (Faith - K.R.S. Shastry, 1954) was an adaptation of Goethes Faust while Istana Berdarah (Palace of Blood - Hussein Haniff, 1964) was based on Macbeth. Narrative and stylistic influences came from Hollywood, British and Asian films. This could be particularly seen in the films of P. Ramlee. Contemporaneous Hollywood social realist films such as The Grapes of Wrath, On the Waterfront and Rebel Without a Cause influenced not only P. Ramlee but would also have had an effect on rebel directors like Hussein Haniff whose first film Hang Jebat departed from the norm in its portrayal of its protagonist as an anti-hero.
Political consciousness among the Malays had built up in the early part of the 20th century and came to a head in the 1950s. It would have been logical then for notions of nationalism to surface in the films at the time. Strangely, this did not happen. There were a number of reasons for this. First, the Chinese producers had given strict orders for no criticism against the British or the immigrant races. This ban was of a practical nature as they were only businessmen and did not want to have any problems with the authorities, and especially with the chairman of the Censorship Board, Jack Evans, an Englishman. British policy in the colonised countries effectively denied the locals from criticising the British or their policies.
As a result, there were no representations of national identity or agitations for freedom and liberty on the screen to stir up the Malay audience. Glaringly missing were criticisms or condemnations of the British who had clearly created a situation where the local Malays continued to languish in poverty while the immigrant races, particularly the Chinese were in control of the economy. In a sense, Malay Cinema of the times could be called an artificial cinema. What was seen of the Malays and their milieu was only something that was constructed by the studios.
Compared with the cinemas of Indonesia and the Philippines, Malaysian Cinema appears to have a vacuum as far as colonial history is concerned. Though the 1950s were interesting times and nationalism was coming to the fore among a segment of the people, an outstanding feature or more accurately a lack of - is that there were absolutely no expressions of anti-colonial sentiments whether openly or subtly in the films. (Even after Independence in 1957 and until now, this scenario has not changed.)
The entry of respected Filipino directors brought many changes in narrative and styles. In 1955, the Shaw Brothers produced Gadis Liar (Girl of the Wild) directed by Eddy Infante. Two years later, T.C. Santos directed Taufan (Typhoon). Ramon Estella stayed for eight years until 1963 during which he directed eight films before moving on to Cathay-Keris to direct Darah-Ku (Of My Blood, 1963) starring Maria Menado and Malek Selamat. Within the same year,
Estella directed Pontianak Kembali
(Return of the She-Devil, 1963) continuing the popular horror genre begun by B.N. Rao with Dendam Pontianak (Revenge of the SheDevil, 1957). Estellas films too were different and stood out from the rest. Three of his best films were Matahari (1958), Samseng (Gangsters, 1959) and Dupa Chendana (1964). Others were Anak Pontianak (Child of the She-Devil, 1958), Saudagar Minyak Urat (The Liniment Merchant, 1959) and Melanchong Ka-Tokyo (Holiday in Tokyo, 1964).
Two other outstanding directors who arrived in 1958 were Rolf Bayer (a screenwriter) and Lamberto V. Avellana, a documentary film director who brought the neo-realist tradition to Malay films. This could be seen in the well-made war epic, Sergeant Hassan (1958) that depicted Malay soldiers fighting alongside the British against the Japanese.
The story was written by Ralph. Modder and the screenplay was
by Ramlee. After Avellana left, the producers felt that the film would not appeal to the Malay audience as there were no song sequences. They requested songs composed by P. Ramlee to be added to the film thinking that this was vital for its success. Ramlee directed the song sequences and it is for this reason that he is sometimes mistaken as the director of the whole film. Sergeant Hassan was a film that has been seen as being very Malay during the studio era even though it was directed by a Filipino. Having experienced colonisation themselves, some of the Filipino directors were very nationalistic and this became reflected in the films that they were involved with in Singapore.
