Terang Boelan

Terang Boelan
A black-and-white poster
Theatrical poster, Batavia
Directed byAlbert Balink
Screenplay bySaeroen
Starring
Cinematography
Music byIsmail Marzuki
Production
company
Algemeen Nederlandsch Indisch Filmsyndicaat
Release date
  • 8 December 1937 (1937-12-08)
CountriesDutch East Indies
(now Indonesia)
LanguageMalay Indonesian

Terang Boelan ([təˈraŋ buˈlan]; Indonesian for "Full Moon", Terang Bulan in the Enhanced Spelling System) is a 1937[a] film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Written by Saeroen, directed by Albert Balink, and starring Rd Mochtar, Roekiah and Eddie T. Effendi, Terang Boelan follows two lovers who elope after one is almost forced to marry an opium smuggler. The film was shot in the Indies and Singapore, and was partially inspired by the 1936 Hollywood film The Jungle Princess. It was aimed at native audiences and included keroncong music, which was popular at the time, and several actors from Balink's previous work Pareh (1936).

Terang Boelan was a commercial success in both the Indies and abroad, earning 200,000 Straits dollars in British Malaya. This success revived the faltering domestic film industry and inspired films aimed at Malay audiences in Malaya, creating a formula of songs, beautiful scenery and romance that was followed for decades afterwards. The Indonesian film historian Misbach Yusa Biran described it as a turning point in the history of Indonesian cinema for its catalytic effect on the industry's growth. Like many Indonesian films of the era, Terang Boelan has been lost since at least the 1970s.
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