Original film title in Malay: Rayuan Sukma
English title: Call of the Soul

Directed by L. Krishnan
Written by Jaffar Abdullah
Language: Malay
Starring: Ali Rahman, Zubaidah, Abdul Rahim
Produced by Malay Film Productions (Shaw Bros.)

Film Locations:
Siglap Malay School (later Siglap Indah Primary School and Wisma Mendaki)
Alkaff Gardens and Lake
Kampong (unidentified)
Outram Prison (or Pearl’s Hill Prison)

 

RAYUAN SUKMA WAS THE ONE OF THE FIRST films produced by Shaw Brothers’ Malay Film Productions with a story and script written by a local Malay (Jaffar Abdullah, who was also in charge of the movie magazine ‘Filem Melayu’, published by the Shaw Brothers; he would later head the Malay Department of the Shaw Organisation). Rayuan Sukma is about two childhood playmates, Mahadi and Marliah, who grew up to be lovers. They had intended to get married, but their relationship is tested when Mahadi’s promotion to a higher position at work requires him to move to Penang for two months, leaving Marliah vulnerable to the advances of Musa, an adversary of Mahadi since childhood.

 

 

Further Reading:
1. Nazrul Amri, ‘Film industry pioneers were non-Malays’. The Straits Times, 22 March 1988, p. 5.
2. ‘School to be Mendaki headquarters’. The Straits Times, 3 May 1984, p. 12.
3. Hadijah Rahmat, Kilat Senja (p. 69; photograph of Siglap Malay School). Singapore: HS Yang Publishing, 2005.

Film Images:
© 1951 Malay Film Productions
© 2003 Music Valley

Digital Map Source:
Great Britain. Royal Air Force, Singapore photomap, National Library of Australia, MAP G8041.A4 s6 1950. [http://nla.gov.au/nla.map-vn502375]

Photographs:
© 2013, 2014 Toh Hun Ping