MALAYSIAN CINEMA IN A BOTTLE - 6

Cathay-Keris film productions too were first helmed by Indian, Chinese and Filipino directors. Among them were B.S. Rajhans, B.N. Rao, K.M. Basker, Toh Wing Kai, Cabin Yeo, Tong Pak Chee, Laurie Friedman and Ramon Estella. Malay directors were entrusted with a number of films together with local Malaysian-born Indian directors like L. Krishnan who had been with MFP. There was a conscious attempt at Cathay-Keris for their films to be markedly different from that of MFP. The characters were also more three-dimensional and there was a serious attempt at verisimilitude in story, costume and setting.

Cathay-Keris first film was Buluh Perindu (1953) directed by B. S. Rajhans and starring Sharif Medan, an Indonesian who had been involved in bangsawan since his youth. It was also the first local film to be shot in colour. Three films followed in 1954. In the following year, three of the seven films produced were directed by a British cinemato-grapher Laurie Friedman who had been with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. S. Roomai Noor, who had appeared in the lead roles of Cathay-Keris films since 1954 was the first local to be given the chance by the studio to direct a film. This was Adam in 1956.

The arrival of Tom Hodge in 1958 was to signal a different direction for Cathay-Keris in terms of storytelling. In 1958, Hodge (formerly of the Malayan Film Unit in Kuala Lumpur, a documentary studio set up by the British after the War) became an executive producer at Cathay-Keris and also the

Managing Director of Cathay Film Services. Hodge wanted their films to be different from those of MFP, intending them to be very Malay in look and have character-driven stories. Some of these films were Mahsuri (The Lady, Mahsuri - B.N. Rao, 1958), Korban Fitnah (Victim of Defamation - P.L. Kapoor, 1959), Rasa Sayang Eh (Feelings of Love - L. Krishnan,

1959), Hang Jebat (The Warrior, Hang Jebat Hussain Haniff, 1961) and Dang Anom (The Lady