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Declaring my Love For Old Malaysian Movies
I grew up watching Siput Sarawak, P.Ramlee, S Roomai Noor, Ummi Kalthoum, Saloma, Aziz Sattar, Sarimah, S Shamsuddin, Normadiah, Ibrahim Pendek. Initially I had wanted to write about P. Ramlee films but decided not to, instead I have some of the lesser known movies that I absolutely LOVE and up till this day still etched in my memory.
Does anyone remember Latifah Omar as the good Bawang Merah, Umi Kalthom as the bad Bawang Putih, and Mustapha Maarof as the Prince.
The story takes place in a simple village household. The head of this family has two wives, and each wife has their own daughter. Bawang Merah and her mother are jealous of the attention the father gives Bawang Putih and her mother. When the father dies, Bawang Merah and mother take charge of the household and bully Bawang Putih. Bawang Putih’s mother stands up for her daughter but she soon dies prematurely, in some versions due to sickness and in some versions due to the intentional malice of Bawang Merah's mother. Anyway the story involves a talking fish, a magic swing, a handsome Prince and best of all a happy ending. If you haven't watched it before, you definitely have to go rent the video.
Also being a fan of horror movies how can I not mention the infamous SUMPAH ORANG MINYAK. I think several versions of this legendary creature exists. In the 1956 movie which P.Ramlee directed and acted in, the orang minyak was a man who was trying to win back his love with magic was somehow cursed. Apparently the devil offered to help him and give him powers of the black art but in return he had to rape 21 virgins within a week (with the help of Tongkat Ali, of course, hehe, no lah just kidding!!)
Then I found this information, apparently 'in the 1960s, the orang minyak supposedly lived around several Malaysian towns raping young women. The orang minyak of the 1960s was described as human, having a naked body covered with oil to make it difficult to catch. However, there were also stories of the orang minyak where it was supposedly supernatural in origin, or invisible to non-virgins (possibly from the oil) or both. The mass panic has also led to unmarried women, typically in student dormitories, borrowing sweaty clothes to give the impression to the orang minyak that they are with a man. Other defences supposedly include biting its left thumb and covering it in batik'.
Then there is the story of Patung Chendana, involving an ugly hunchback. Everyday he would go to the pond and one day while it was raining I think he found this lovely patung of a woman and brought her home, tending to her so lovingly that she became human and granted him good looks and riches but this man abused her love and so the patung ran away, (of course now human) realizing his mistake he chases after her but was too late she had already turned back into a patung and he became a poor hunchback again.
Finally, there is the pontianak movies where a young female hunchback, is transformed into a beautiful woman by magic, but after sucking out snake venom from a bite received by her husband, she becomes a vampiric Pontianak. When the Pontianak tries to transform her daughter into one of the undead, the creature is destroyed when a nail is driven into her skull.
This one got series, after Pontianak, got Dendam Pontianak, Pontianak Kembali, Pontianak Gua Musang. But sssshhhhh better not talk about the Pontianak too much, night time coming......
This is one many things I love about being a Malaysian....we are a people of vivid imaginations and loads of superstition.
This post was written in the hopes of winning one of Qua Chee's books.
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