Matula

Matula
Newspaper ad, Surabaya
Directed by	Tan Tjoei Hock
Produced by	The Teng Chun
Screenplay by	Ferry Kock
Starring	Ferry Kock Dewi Mada Mohamad Mochtar Bissu
Music by	Mas Sardi
Cinematography	Tan Tjoei Hock
Production company	Action Film
Release date	1941 (1941) (Dutch East Indies)
Country	Dutch East Indies
Language	Indonesian

Matula ([maˈtula]) is a 1941 film from the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) which was directed by Tan Tjoei Hock and produced by The Teng Chun of Java Industrial Film. The black-and-white film, now likely lost, follows a young man who tries to give a woman's soul to a shaman as payment for being made handsome.

A rich yet hideously deformed youth named Matula (Ferry Kock) visits a dukun (shaman) named Tello, asking to be made handsome. Tello agrees, then does the deed. When Matula asks him to name his price, Tello asks to be paid with a soul. Using his magic, Tello arranges for Emma (Dewi Mada), the daughter of a rich businessman, to meet Matula in a plantation, where Matula can convince her to come with him. Upon realising what is happening, Emma's father Johan and her fiancé Paul chase down Matula. They are too late, as Tello has taken Emma's soul. The four men fight, and though Paul's soul is almost taken, Johan is able to defeat Tello with a bamboo shaft. Defeated, Tello returns Emma's soul. Matula returns to his original form, reeking of death; Tello then demands his soul.

Matula was produced by The Teng Chun for Action Film, a subsidiary of his company New Java Industrial Film. It was directed by Tan Tjoei Hock, a former theatre assistant who had worked who had made his directorial debut the preceding year with Dasima; Tan also handled cinematography. Music was handled by Mas Sardi.

It was written by Ferry Kock (who also starred), a former stage actor with the touring troupe Dardanella who had made his film debut in 1940 with Rentjong Atjeh. The black-and-white film also starred Dewi Mada, Mohamad Mochtar, and Bissu.