Nancy Bikin Pembalesan

Plot

Nancy, the daughter of a native njai (mistress) named Dasima who was murdered several years earlier after leaving her family, returns to Batavia, Dutch East Indies (modern day Jakarta, Indonesia), as an adult. She discovers that her mother's murderers, a delman driver named Samiun and his wife Hayati, have returned from exile. In a dream, Nancy sees her mother, who asks that she hunt down Samiun and Hayati and take revenge upon them.

Intending to calm her mother's soul, Nancy sets out in pursuit of the murderers, who have taken what remained of Dasima's wealth and fled to nearby Banten. With the help of a local politician, she finds and chases Samiun and Hayati. Samiun falls down a hole and dies and, when Hayati tries turning on Nancy to kill her, Dasima's ghost startles the murderess into killing herself.

Production

Nancy Bikin Pembalasan was made as a sequel to the two-part film Njai Dasima, which Tan's Film – owned by the ethnic Chinese brothers Tan Khoen Yauw and Tan Khoen Hian – had released to commercial success the previous year. Unlike the original film, which was based on Tjerita Njai Dasima (The Story of Njai Dasima; 1896) by G. Francis, Nancy Bikin Pembalesan was written especially for Tan's Film. Like most of Tan's productions, it was targeted at lower-class viewers.

The film was directed by Lie Tek Swie, who had previously worked as a film importer, and produced by Tan Koen Yauw. Boby Schonerwald was cast as Nancy. It was silent and black and white and, during production, initially titled Pembalesan Nancy (Nancy's Revenge).

Release and reception

Nancy Bikin Pembalesan was released on 30 May 1930, four months after the second instalment of Njai Dasima. It was a commercial and critical success. A review in Panorama described the imagery as clear, like a Western film, with beautiful views and good characterisation of Nancy, Hayati, and the government official.