Lily van Java (1928)

Wissenswertes

Lilly van Java, also known as Melatie van Java, 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. It is likely a lost film.

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. 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.

According to JB Kristanto's Katalog Film Indonesia (Indonesian Film Catalogue), an American named Len Ross was initially booked to direct the film; Ross was reportedly in the country to film a work entitled Java for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and shot several scenes in mid-1928.

Nelson Wong, who had formerly been booked with his brothers Joshua and Othniel to record a film for Tio Tek Djien, 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. Some sources indicate that the same cast was used, while others suggest that the leading role was taken by a student from Shanghai named Lily Oey.

The silent film was shot in black and white; its intertitles were bilingual, written in both Malay and Chinese. 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, and the Indonesian film scholar Misbach Yusa Biran writes that the shots were considered blurry even at the time.

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