Si Tjonat

Si Tjonat (Perfected Spelling: Si Conat) is a likely-lost 1929 bandit film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) directed by Nelson Wong and produced by Wong and Jo Eng Sek. Based on the novel by F.D.J. Pangemanann, the silent film followed an indigenous man who, having killed his fellow villager, flees to Batavia (today Jakarta) and becomes a bandit. After kidnapping an ethnic Chinese woman, he is defeated and brought to justice.

A commercially oriented work aimed at ethnic Chinese audiences, Si Tjonat received mixed reviews; box office proceeds are unclear. Although intended as a serial, no sequel was ever made; the production house, Batavia Motion Picture, closed soon afterwards. However, several works in the same genre as this one were released soon afterwards, including Si Pitoeng, which used the same director and star.

Tjonat, a Sundanese youth, kills his friend and escapes to Batavia (now Jakarta), the capital of the Dutch East Indies, where he finds work with a Dutch man. Tjonat soon robs the man of his wealth and seduces his mistress (njai), then leaves the household to live the life of a bandit. When he asks Lie Gouw Nio (Ku Fung May), the daughter of a peranakan Chinese farmer named Lie A Tjip, to be his lover, she refuses. Enraged, Tjonat kidnaps her, but Lie is rescued by her fiancé, Thio Sing Sang (Herman Sim), who is well-trained in martial arts.

Si Tjonat was directed by Nelson Wong, who produced the film in conjunction with his business partner Jo Eng Sek. The two had established Batavia Motion Picture in 1929. Wong had previously directed a single fiction film, the commercial flop Lily van Java (1928), with funding from a high-ranking General Motors employee in Batavia named David Wong. Jo Eng Sek, a shop owner, had never produced a film.