Tan's Film Batavia: 1929 Studio History

Tan’s Film Batavia was a film studio in Batavia, now Jakarta, that made films for local audiences in the Dutch East Indies. It was founded in 1929 by the brothers Tan Khoen Yauw and Tan Khoen Hian, closed after its 1932 talkie, returned in 1938 with Fatima, and was shut down in 1942 after the Japanese occupation of the Indies began. This page sets out that sequence film by film and names the people behind each release.

Tan’s Film Batavia and the 1929 founding

The studio was set up in 1929 by Tan Khoen Yauw and his brother Tan Khoen Hian, with its base in Batavia. Tan Khoen Yauw is the producer credited on the studio’s first film, the silent Njai Dasima, and on its 1930 release Si Ronda, and he is also the producer of later pictures such as Siti Akbari and Roekihati.

The films were made for the urban, mostly native audiences of the cinemas in the city. That audience shaped the choice of stories. The studio’s first release adapted a novel rather than an original script, which gave the company a plot that its viewers could already follow.

Njai Dasima, the silent film that opened the studio

Njai Dasima was released in November 1929 and was the studio’s first film. It was directed by Lie Tek Swie and produced by Tan Khoen Yauw. The story came from Tjerita Njai Dasima, a novel by G. Francis published in 1896, and the film was a screen version of that story.

The plot centres on Dasima, who lives with an Englishman, Edward William, and their daughter Nancy in a house near Gambir Square in Batavia. The delman driver Samiun, who is already married to Hayati, becomes fixated on her and tries to win her with spells. The story then turns to violence. Samiun hires the thug Puasa to rob her, and when she screams during the attack Puasa kills her. Her body is thrown off a bridge, and both men are caught and sentenced to hang. The story was also taken up on stage in the traditional Betawi lenong form.

The 1932 talkie and the first closure

In 1932 the studio released a talkie version of Njai Dasima, a second screen adaptation of the same story. The 1929 film was silent and the 1932 version was a talkie. The novel was published in 1896, so the 1932 film came 36 years after the book. It was directed by Bachtiar Effendi, who had started his film career at Tan’s Film in 1930. The company was dissolved in 1932, after the talkie, and it was later revived.

Bachtiar Effendi began as a set decorator for the studio and took the lead as the title character in Si Ronda, a 1930 film directed by Lie Tek Swie and produced by Tan Khoen Yauw. That film was his on-screen debut. He also directed the 1932 talkie.

Terang Boelan and the revival of the Batavia film trade

The studio’s return owed much to a film made by another company. Terang Boelan was released on 8 December 1937. It was a Malay-language musical written by Saeroen and directed by the Dutch journalist Albert Balink, and it starred Rd Mochtar, Roekiah, E.T. Effendi and Kartolo. The cinematographers were the Wong brothers, Othniel and Joshua.

Terang Boelan was a commercial success in the Indies, and it was a large hit. Its success showed that local audiences would fill cinemas for a film in their own language.

Tan’s Film Batavia returns with Fatima in 1938

In 1938 Tan Khoen Hian joined with the Wong brothers to relaunch the company under its old name. Othniel and Joshua Wong were the directors of the revived studio. Its first production was Fatima, released on 24 April 1938. The Wong brothers directed it and handled the photography, and Saeroen wrote the story, which followed the formula of Terang Boelan closely. Much of that earlier film’s cast and crew joined the new picture.

Roekiah and Rd Mochtar were the leads. The music was performed by Lief Java, a troupe that played kroncong, the guitar and string music popular with urban audiences of the period. The songs were a main draw, and the film showed that kroncong could fill a cinema.

Gagak Item and the 1939 release

The studio followed Fatima with Gagak Item, released in late 1939. The Wong brothers directed it, and Saeroen wrote the screenplay. The hero is a masked outlaw, and the character was inspired by Zorro, the masked avenger of American adventure films that were popular in the Indies at the time. The film starred Rd Mochtar, Roekiah, E.T. Effendi and Kartolo. Its six songs were performed by Lief Java, with the keroncong singer Annie Landouw providing vocals.

Gagak Item was a commercial success, though it was less profitable than the earlier productions.

Siti Akbari and the 1940 releases

Siti Akbari premiered at the Cinema Palace Theatre on 29 April 1940. It was directed by the Wong brothers and produced by Tan Khoen Yauw. Roekiah and Rd Mochtar starred, with Kartolo, Annie Landouw and Titing in supporting roles. The story is about a wife who stays faithful while her husband strays, and who wins him back. The music was provided by Lief Java and the vocals by Annie Landouw and Titing. The film was successful, though it did not make as much money as Fatima.

Later in 1940 the studio released Sorga Ka Toedjoe, directed by the Wong brothers, with a premiere in Surabaya on 30 October 1940. It starred Roekiah and Rd Djoemala, who took over the male lead from Rd Mochtar. The same year the studio released Roekihati, directed by the Wong brothers and starring Roekiah and Rd Djoemala, with Tan Khoen Yauw as producer.

The 1940 departures and the decline of the studio

The studio lost several of its key people in 1940. Rd Mochtar, one of the main male stars and a lead in Terang Boelan, Fatima and Gagak Item, left the company over a wage dispute, and Rd Djoemala took his place opposite Roekiah. The screenwriter Saeroen also left the company that year. He then wrote two films for another studio, Union Film, in 1940.

The studio’s problems were partly about money and partly about people. Without the writer and the male lead who had shaped its earlier hits, the company’s later output was less commercially strong.

The 1941 film and the final shutdown in 1942

The studio released Poesaka Terpendam on 22 October 1941. It was produced by Tan’s Film and starred Roekiah and Rd Djoemala. It is among the last films the studio made before its closure.

Across the revival, Roekiah was the female lead in Fatima, Siti Akbari, Sorga Ka Toedjoe, Roekihati and Poesaka Terpendam. Rd Djoemala took over the male role in the studio’s films from 1940, and the same two actors carried most of the studio’s later titles.

Tan’s Film Batavia ended with the Japanese occupation. The company was shut down in 1942, following the occupation of the Indies that began in early 1942. The second iteration of the studio had lasted about four years, from its revival in 1938 to the occupation.

What came after Tan’s Film Batavia

In 1948 the Tan and Wong brothers founded a new company, Tan & Wong Bros. It was a separate company rather than a return to the old studio, and it belongs to a later chapter of Indonesian film history.

The studio’s history shows how fragile the early industry was. It depended on a small group of people who wrote, directed, photographed and acted, and when they left, the output fell. The 1932 closure followed the talkie, the 1938 revival came with a new team of directors, and the 1942 shutdown was caused by the occupation.

Where to go next in Jakarta

The old city where the studio worked is still visible. The Kota Tua old town is the Dutch-era core of Batavia. The Dutch East India Company destroyed the port of Jayakarta in 1619 and built the new town of Batavia the following year. Kota Tua was the Asian headquarters of the company and remained the administrative centre of the colony, and the canals and tropical disease of the area helped bring about its decline in the late eighteenth century. The Glodok district, which is largely Chinese, is part of the same area.

For the culture of the city’s Betawi population, read the Betawi culture guide. The Lenong Betawi page covers the traditional Betawi folk theatre form. Music is covered in the kroncong music guide, which explains the guitar and string music that gave Fatima and Siti Akbari their songs.

For the earlier silent film that came before Tan’s Film opened, the Loetoeng Kasaroeng page describes a 1926 silent production. The Jakarta guide covers the city and its old Batavia quarters, and together these pages show how the studio sits between the early experiments in local film and the wartime closure that ended the period.

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Tan’s Film: The Batavia Studio That Made Early Malay Talkies