Lily van Java
{{short description|1928 film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{Good article}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Lily van Java
| image = Lily van Java scene.jpg
| alt =
| caption = A scene showing the film's main family
| director =Nelson Wong
| producer =
| writer =
| starring = Disputed; see production
| music =
| cinematography = Wong brothers
| editing =
| studio = {{plain list|
- South Sea Film
- Halimoen Film
}}
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|1928|||Dutch East Indies|df=yes}}
| runtime =
| country = Dutch East Indies
| language = Silent
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Lilly van Java (Lily of Java), also known as Melatie van Java (Jasmine of Java),{{sfn|Said|1982|p=17}} is a 1928 film from the Dutch East Indies directed by Nelson Wong. Initially meant to be produced by South Sea Film and shot by an American director, the film – which follows a woman told to marry a man she does not love – was ultimately completed by Wong's Halimoen Film. Details on its cast and performance are contradictory, although the film is recognised as the first of a long series of ethnic Chinese-produced films in the country.{{sfn|Biran|2009|pp=379–381}} It is likely a lost film.
Premise
The young daughter of a rich man, already in a loving relationship, is forced to marry someone she does not love.{{sfn|Filmindonesia.or.id, Lily van Java}}
Production
The first two films produced in the Dutch East Indies, Loetoeng Kasaroeng (1926) and Eulis Atjih (1927), were made by the Dutch filmmakers L. Heuveldorp and George Krugers, respectively.{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=379}} Ethnic Chinese businessmen, capitalising on the success of films produced in Shanghai, China, established two production houses, one in Batavia (modern day Jakarta) and the other in Surabaya.{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=77}} South Sea Film, the production house in Batavia established by Liem Goan Lian and Tjan Tjoen Lian, was advertised as the first Chinese filmmaking cooperative in the country. Its first script was for Lily van Java;{{sfn|Filmindonesia.or.id, Lily van Java}}{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=79}} which the company had to pass through the {{lang|nl|Film Commissie}} (national censorship bureau) for fear of violating traditional values.{{sfn|PaEni 2010, Mozaik Film Nasional}}
According to JB Kristanto's Katalog Film Indonesia (Indonesian Film Catalogue), an American named Len Ross was initially booked to direct the film;{{sfn|Filmindonesia.or.id, Lily van Java}} Ross was reportedly in the country to film a work entitled Java for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and shot several scenes in mid-1928.{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=80}} The cast was ethnic Chinese, and the female stars – Lie Lian Hwa and Lie Bo Tan – were reportedly daughters of the Surabayan gangster Lie Bauw Kie and trained in silat;{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=82}} other cast members included Kwee Tiang An and Yah Kwee Pang. However, after Ross withdrew the script was put on hold.{{sfn|Filmindonesia.or.id, Lily van Java}}
Nelson Wong, who had formerly been booked with his brothers Joshua and Othniel to record a film for Tio Tek Djien,{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=81}} approached David Wong (no relation), a high-ranking General Motors employee in Batavia, for funding. With this the Wong Brother's Halimoen Film was able to finish the film.{{sfn|Filmindonesia.or.id, Lily van Java}}{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=82}}{{sfn|JCG, Lily van Java}} Some sources indicate that the same cast was used,{{sfn|Filmindonesia.or.id, Lily van Java}}{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=82}} while others suggest that the leading role was taken by a student from Shanghai named Lily Oey.{{sfn|Said|1982|p=17}}{{sfn|van der Heide|2002|p=128}}{{sfn|Biran|Ramadhan K.H.|1973|p=165}}
The silent film was shot in black and white;{{sfn|Filmindonesia.or.id, Lily van Java}} its intertitles were bilingual, written in both Malay and Chinese.{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=82}} The American film historian Richard Abel writes that the film's technical quality, like all other local productions of the time, was poor and unable to compete with imported works,{{sfn|Abel|2005|p=462}} and the Indonesian film scholar Misbach Yusa Biran writes that the shots were considered blurry even at the time.{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=86}}
Release and reception
Lily van Java was released in 1928.{{sfn|Filmindonesia.or.id, Lily van Java}} Its success is disputed. The reporter Leopold Gan wrote that the film was highly successful, to the point that after several years copies were worn through from overplaying.{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=82}} However, Joshua Wong later recalled in an interview that the film had been a failure; David Wong is reported to have avowed to no longer fund any films after Lily van Java.{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=84}} Lacking a backer, the Wong Brothers went on hiatus.{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=86}}
Lily van Java continues to be recorded as the first Chinese-produced film of the area.{{sfn|JCG, Lily van Java}} Although the Wongs went on hiatus, other ethnic Chinese became involved in film. Several Chinese owned start-ups are recorded from 1929 on, including Nancing Film with Resia Boroboedoer (1928) and Tan's Film with Njai Dasima (1929).{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=379}} By the early 1930s Chinese-owned businesses were the dominating force in the country's film industry.{{sfn|Biran|2009|pp=380–381}}
The film is likely a lost film. The American visual anthropologist Karl G. Heider writes that all Indonesian films from before 1950 are lost.{{sfn|Heider|1991|p=14}} 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.{{sfn|Biran|2009|p=351}}
References
Footnotes
{{reflist|30em}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin|30em}}
- {{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cc71Uekc_EC
|title=Encyclopedia of Early Cinema
|isbn=978-0-415-23440-5
|last1=Abel
|first1=Richard
|year=2005
|location=New York
|publisher=Routledge
}}
- {{cite book
|title=Sejarah Film 1900–1950: Bikin Film di Jawa
|trans-title=History of Film 1900–1950: Making Films in Java
|language=Indonesian
|last=Biran
|first=Misbach Yusa
|author-link=Misbach Yusa Biran
|location=Jakarta
|publisher=Komunitas Bamboo working with the Jakarta Art Council
|year=2009
|isbn=978-979-3731-58-2
}}
- {{cite journal
|last1=Biran
|first1=Misbach Yusa
|author1-link=Misbach Yusa Biran
|last2=Ramadhan K.H.
|first2=Misbach
|translator-last=Labrousse
|translator-first=P.
|title=Les Vedettes du cinéma indonésien
|trans-title=The Stars of Indonesian Cinema
|language=French
|url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/arch_0044-8613_1973_num_5_1_1048
|journal=Archipel
|pages=165–174
|volume=5
|issue=5
|year=1973
|doi=10.3406/arch.1973.1048
}}
- {{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3HTdu1HuWQC
|title=Malaysian Cinema, Asian Film: Border Crossings and National Cultures
|isbn=978-90-5356-580-3
|last1=van der Heide
|first1=William
|year=2002
|location=Amsterdam
|publisher=Amsterdam University Press
}}
- {{cite book
|url=https://archive.org/details/indonesiancinema0000heid
|url-access=registration
|title=Indonesian Cinema: National Culture on Screen
|isbn=978-0-8248-1367-3
|last1=Heider
|first1=Karl G
|year=1991
|publisher=University of Hawaii Press
|location=Honolulu
}}
- {{cite encyclopedia
|title=Lily van Java
|language=Indonesian
|url=http://www.jakarta.go.id/jakv1/encyclopedia/detail/1659
|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Jakarta
|publisher=Jakarta City Government
|location=Jakarta
|access-date=21 August 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215145536/http://www.jakarta.go.id/jakv1/encyclopedia/detail/1659
|archive-date=15 December 2013
|ref={{sfnRef|JCG, Lily van Java}}
|url-status=dead
}}
- {{cite web
|title=Lily van Java
|language=Indonesian
|url=http://filmindonesia.or.id/movie/title/lf-l011-28-301201_lily-van-java#.UAon3KDE_Mw
|work=filmindonesia.or.id
|publisher=Konfidan Foundation
|location=Jakarta
|access-date=21 July 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202204311/http://filmindonesia.or.id/movie/title/lf-l011-28-301201_lily-van-java
|archive-date=2 December 2013
|ref={{sfnRef|Filmindonesia.or.id, Lily van Java}}
|url-status=dead
}}
- {{cite web
|last=PaEni
|first=Mukhlis
|title=Mozaik Film Nasional
|trans-title=Mosaic of National Films
|language=Indonesian
|url=http://www.lsf.go.id/film.php?module=artikel&sub=detail&id=51
|publisher=Indonesian Film Censorship Bureau
|location=Jakarta
|date=7 June 2010
|access-date=21 August 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215142931/http://www.lsf.go.id/film.php?module=artikel&sub=detail&id=51
|archive-date=15 December 2013
|ref={{sfnRef|PaEni 2010, Mozaik Film Nasional}}
|url-status=dead
}}
- {{cite book
|title=Profil Dunia Film Indonesia
|trans-title=Profile of Indonesian Cinema
|language=Indonesian
|last=Said
|first=Salim
|publisher=Grafiti Pers
|location=Jakarta
|year=1982
|oclc=9507803
}}
{{refend}}