Dasima (film)

Dasima
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Tan Tjoei Hock
Produced by	The Teng Chun
Starring	S. Soekarti Mohammad Mochtar M. Sani
Production company	Java Industrial Film
Release date	1940 (1940) (Dutch East Indies)
Country	Dutch East Indies
Language	Malay

Dasima is a 1940 film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) directed by Tan Tjoei Hock and produced by The Teng Chun. It is the third adaptation of G. Francis' 1896 novel Tjerita Njai Dasima.

Winata and his wife Dasima often fight: Winata is often at work, trying to save enough money for their future, whereas Dasima feels he should come home more often. Ultimately this leads to them divorcing. Dasima is then attracted to Samiun and marries him. The relationship quickly sours. Samiun mistreats his wife and wastes their money, gambling away her jewelery. When Dasima makes signs that she wants a divorce and all of her money returned to her, Samiun hires a thug named Puasa to help kill her. They corner Dasima on a bridge, and she jumps to her death. Samiun and Puasa are soon after arrested by the police.

Dasima, produced by The Teng Chun for Java Industrial Film (JIF), was the directorial debut of Tan Tjoei Hock. The had discovered Tan whilst the latter worked as an unpaid assistant at a drama troupe which frequently performed at Prinsen Park (now Lokasari). Impressed, The asked Tan to join JIF. Though Tan had never been involved in film, he accepted.

Tan adapted the story for Dasima from G. Francis' 1896 novel Tjerita Njai Dasima, which had previously been adapted to the silver screen twice, once in 1929 and once in 1932. These earlier productions, both by Tan's Film, had been similar to extant stage versions of the story. This production, however, was advertised as a "modern version" as it had been brought in accordance to more "modern" tastes. As a result, there were several changes to the story, including the removal of the term njai from the title, a shift from a njai (a concubine) to an ordinary woman as the central character, and the removal of mystical elements present in the original work.

The black-and-white film featured cinematography by WT Wei, with HB Angin as artistic director. It starred S. Soekarti, Mohammad Mochtar, and M. Sani. It also featured S. Talib, Djaleha, Toehamsa, and Habibah. Mochtar had been with Tan's since 1939's Alang-Alang. In these earlier films he had been partnered with Hadidjah as the romantic leads. Dasima was his first film without her; she was replaced by Soekarti, who had no previous acting experience.