''Poesaka Terpendam'' (
Perfected Spelling
Indonesian orthography refers to the official spelling system used in the Indonesian language. The current system uses the Latin alphabet and is called (EYD), commonly translated as ''Enhanced Spelling'', ''Perfected Spelling'' or ''Improved Spel ...
: ''Pusaka Terpendam''; Indonesian for ''Buried Treasure'') is a 1941 film from the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...
produced by
Tan's Film
Tan's Film was a film production house in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia). Established by the brothers Tan Khoen Yauw and Tan Khoen Hian on September 1, 1929, its films were mostly targeted at native ethnic groups. Starting with '' Njai ...
and starring
Roekiah,
Djoemala, and
Kartolo.
Plot
Two young men, Agoes and Badjoel, travel from
Palembang
Palembang (, Palembang: ''Pelémbang'', Mandarin: 巨港 (Jùgǎng), Hokkien: 舊港 (Kū-káng), Jawi: ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River in the ea ...
to West Java and are told of the beauty of two sisters, Zaenab and Djoeleha, who live in Cicadas village with their father. The friends decide to visit Cicadas. Meanwhile, a local bandit leader named Ramelan has asked for Zaenab's hand in marriage. She and her father Ardi refuse, and Ramelan is forced to leave.
Through an old letter found on Ardi, Ramelan learns of a buried treasure containing some 30,000
gulden. He decides to dig it up, kidnapping Zaenab and Djoeleha in the process. Seeing this, Agoes and Badjoel follow Ramelan to his gang's hideout in a cave and fight to save the treasure and girls.
After rescuing the girls and defeating the bandits, Agoes and Badjoel are allowed to marry Zaenab and Djoeleha. The treasure, meanwhile, is divided amongst them.
Production
''Poesaka Terpendam'' was produced by
Tan's Film
Tan's Film was a film production house in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia). Established by the brothers Tan Khoen Yauw and Tan Khoen Hian on September 1, 1929, its films were mostly targeted at native ethnic groups. Starting with '' Njai ...
and starred
Roekiah and
Rd Djoemala. It also featured Titing,
Kartolo, Ismail, Ramli, and Wolly Sutinah. Shooting for the film, originally titled ''Poesaka Pendeman'', began in June 1941. Scenes for this
black-and-white film
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, a ...
were shot in
Banten
Banten (, , Pegon alphabet, Pegon: بنتن) is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province on the island of Java, Indonesia. Its capital city is Serang and its largest city is Tangerang. The province borders West Java and the Special Capi ...
, including Lake Tasikardi in
Serang
Serang (, , Sundanese: ) is a city and the capital of Banten province and was formerly also the administrative center of Serang Regency in Indonesia (the Regency's capital is now at Ciruas). The city is located towards the north of Banten pro ...
and Lake Tikoro in Rajamandala. The film featured several ''
kroncong
Kroncong (pronounced "kronchong"; , ) is the name of a ukulele-like instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong (the sound ' comes from this instrument, so the music is called ''kroncong''). A ''kroncong'' ...
'' songs, some sung by Roekiah.
Release and reception
''Poesaka Terpendam'' was released on 22 October 1941, on the
Eid ul-Fitr
Eid al-Fitr () is the first of the two main festivals in Islam, the other being Eid al-Adha. It falls on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the ...
holiday. It was debuted simultaneously at the Sampoerna Theatre in
Surabaya
Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...
, the Luxor Theatre in
Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta is the capital city of the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by Hamengkubuwono, a monarchy, Yogyakarta is regarded as an importan ...
, the Centraal Theatre in
Buitenzorg
Bogor City (), or Bogor (, ), is a landlocked city in the West Java, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide. , and the Rialto Theatre in
Senen
Senen is a long-established urban district () of Central Jakarta, Indonesia that has kept many tourist attractions such as two museums, the National Library of Indonesia, , and narrow alleys with old Chinese and similar style shops and restaura ...
, Batavia. A preview in ''Poestaka Timoer'' promised a great performance from Roekiah as well as an extraordinarily comic one from Kartolo.
''Pertjatoeran Doenia dan Film'' wrote that it was the only film to date in which Djoemala seemed out of place; the reviewer wrote that Djoemala seemed overly stiff and unnatural during the fight scenes. A review in ''
De Indische Courant
''De Indische Courant'' was the name of a number of Dutch language newspapers published on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia).
Early newspapers
The first paper under this name was published in 1870 (in the classi ...
'' praised the film's scenery.
The film is likely
lost, as are all Indonesian films from before 1950 according to American visual anthropologist
Karl G. Heider
Karl Heider (born January 21, 1935) is an American visual anthropologist.
Life and education
Heider was born in Northampton, Massachusetts. Heider is the son of psychologists Fritz and Grace (née Moore) Heider. He had two brothers; John and S ...
. As elsewhere in the world at the time, movies produced in the Indies were shot on highly flammable
nitrate film
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitration, nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitri ...
, and after a fire destroyed much of Produksi Film Negara's warehouse in 1952, old films shot on nitrate were deliberately destroyed. However, Kristanto records several as having survived at
Sinematek Indonesia
Sinematek Indonesia, or Sinematek for short, is a film archive located in Jakarta. Established in 1975 by Misbach Yusa Biran and Asrul Sani, the archive was the first in Southeast Asia, and remains the only one in Indonesia. It is home to rough ...
's archives, and film historian
Misbach Yusa Biran
Misbach Yusa Biran (11 September 1933 – 11 April 2012) was an Indonesian writer, director and columnist who pioneered the Indonesian film archives.
Personal life
Biran was born in Rangkasbitung, in the Lebak Regency, to a Minangkaba ...
writes that several Japanese propaganda films have survived at the
Netherlands Government Information Service
The Netherlands Government Information Service (''Dutch:'' Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst, abbrev.: RVD) is a Dutch government agency. The RVD is the official information service of the Dutch government and is the spokesbody for the prime minister, th ...
.
References
Works cited
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{{refend
1941 films
1941 lost films
Dutch East Indies films
Indonesian black-and-white films
Lost Indonesian films
Tan's Film films