HONG KONG MOVIE PRODUCTION COMPANIES SERIES

HONG KONG MOVIE PRODUCTION COMPANIES SERIES

10Ĭathay-Keris made a series of black-and-white Malay-language films including Pontianak in 1957, which was directed by Rao and starred “Kebaya Queen” Maria Menado. Basker were later recruited from Shaw’s studio, and they helped to train the crew and technicians on the job. Due to a shortage of skilled workers, Cathay-Keris started with only one film director and about 60 staff. The studio facilities of Keris Film Productions were also moved to the new site. The former Japanese Army barracks at the site were converted into offices and a canteen, and two studios were built. 9Ĭathay-Keris Studio was located at 532-D East Coast Road, adjacent to Cathay’s Ocean Park Hotel. The film is believed to be the first Malay-language film shot in colour. 8 Loke collaborated with Ho in the production of Buloh Perindu (Buluh Perindu), which was released in 1953 under the banner of Keris Film Productions. The following year, Keris Film released its first film, a musical entitled Ramlee Ramlah. 7 After the breakup of Rimau, Ho formed his own company, Keris Film, in 1952, situated on Tampines Road. 6 Before the partnership with Loke, Ho was already a partner in Rimau Film Productions, a company he had formed with Gian Singh, the latter a distributor of Hindustani films that were screened in Cathay cinemas. 5 Cathay-Keris was to challenge the dominance of Shaw Brothers’ Malay Film Productions in the Malay film industry. In 1953, Cathay’s chairman Loke Wan Tho teamed up with Keris Film Productions’ managing director Ho Ah Loke to form the film production company, Cathay-Keris Studio. After the war, Cathay, which by then owned a network of cinemas in Malaya, took advantage of the growing popularity of Malay film by forming Cathay-Keris. 3 Shaw Brothers, noting this trend, joined the bandwagon and produced four Malay films – Mutiara, Ibu Tiri, Bermadu and Tiga Kekasih – between 19. The popularity of Malay movies was apparent shortly before the outbreak of World War II, when Indonesian movies began to catch on with Malayan viewers. The development of Malay films in Malaya is often thought to have begun in the 1930s, as two Malay films – Nelayan (1938) and Leila Majnun (1934) – were made during this period. The company ceased film production in 1973. 1 In 1960, Cathay-Keris produced Singapore’s first Chinese-language film, Lion City.

The studio produced many black-and-white Malay films, and later also had co-productions with French and Hong Kong filmmakers. Formed in 1953, Cathay-Keris Studio was one of two key film producers (the other being Shaw Brothers) during the peak of filmmaking in Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s.

Hong kong movie production companies