Sorga Ka Toedjoe is a 1940 film from the Dutch East Indies directed by Joshua and Othniel Wong for Tan's Film. It follows an older couple who are reunited by another, younger couple after years of separation. The black-and-white film, the first production by Tan's Film after the departure of Rd Mochtar, featured kroncong music and was targeted at lower-class native audiences. It was a commercial and critical success. Roekiah and Djoemala took leading roles in three more films before Tan's closed in 1942. Sorga Ka Toedjoe is now thought lost.
Newspaper advertisement
Roekiah (left) and Annie Landouw in a promotional still from the film
Djoemala and Roekiah went on to act in another three films together.
The Wong brothers were three ethnic Chinese film directors and cameramen active in the cinema of the Dutch East Indies. The sons of an Adventist preacher, the brothers – Nelson (1895–1945), Joshua (1906–1981), and Othniel (1908–1986) – received much of their education in the United States before going to Shanghai and establishing The Great Wall Productions.
The Wong brothers, unknown year
Original poster for Lari ke Mekah, which was renamed after the censorship bureau considered it may be offensive to Muslims
Terang Boelan, for which the brothers handled cinematography, was the most successful film of the Dutch East Indies
One of the Wong brothers, c. 1947
