Matjan Berbisik

Plot

Djaja (Bissoe) has disappeared, leaving his son Hamid with Sanip (Said) in a rural village. The boy is raised together with Sanip's son Usman, two years older. When the two are adults, Usman falls for Zainab (Hadidjah). She, however, prefers Hamid (Mohamad Mochtar). Jealous, Usman convinces his friends to rough up Hamid, who ultimately falls off a cliff. Thinking Hamid dead, Usman continues to woo Zainab. However, when it appears she will accept him, Hamid returns. The film climaxes with two large battles.

Production

Matjan Berbisik was directed by Tan Tjoei Hock and produced by The Teng Chun for Action Film, a subsidiary of Java Industrial Film (JIF). Tan had previously worked for The on Dasima in 1940. Tan wrote the black-and-white film's script, while Mas Sardi handled music. The title was derived from an Indonesian belief that a person could house the soul of a tiger: vicious, hungry, and dangerous.

The film starred Mohamad Mochtar and Hadidjah, who had first acted together in The's Alang-Alang (Grass; 1939) and were promoted as a celebrity couple in competition with Raden Mochtar and Roekiah of Tan's Film. Other cast members included Bissoe and Said. Bissoe had been acting for JIF since Oh Iboe (Oh Mother) some two years previously. The keroncong singer Miss Soelami made an appearance, providing vocals; keroncong, traditional music with Portuguese influences, had become common in films following the success of Albert Balink's Terang Boelan (Full Moon) in 1937.

Release and reception

Matjan Berbisik premiered in 1940, one of six films released by JIF and Action Film that year. Also shown with the Dutch title De Fluisterende Tijger, the film was promoted as being for all ages. An anonymous review in the Surabaya-based Soerabaijasch Handelsblad was positive, praising the visuals and a comic performance. The reviewer did, however, take issue with the production's sound quality and tendency of its actors to attempt and employ Westernised fighting techniques.

Action Film and JIF continued producing films until the beginning of the Japanese occupation of the Indies began in February 1942, leading to the closing of all but one film studio. The cast of Matjan Berbisik remained with JIF, as did Tan, who directed another seven films. According to JB Kristanto's Katalog Film Indonesia (Catalogue of Indonesian Films), a copy of Matjan Berbisik is stored at Sinematek Indonesia in Jakarta.