Original film title in Malay: Tas Tangan Wanita
Literal English translation of film title: A Woman’s Handbag

Directed by L .Krishan
Written by L. Krishnan
Language: Malay
Starring: Osman Gumanti, Neng Yatimah, Siti Tanjung Perak
Produced by Malay Film Productions (Shaw Bros.)

Film Locations:
Runme Shaw’s Villa (Queen Astrid Park)
Clifford Pier, Collyer Quay, Fullerton Building, Bras Basah Road
Kim Seng Road (Terrace houses opposite Great World Amusement Park)
Keppel Harbour East Wharf (Singapore Harbour Board)

 

Mardiana (Neng Yatimah), who lives in a spacious villa in Queen Astrid Park with her family, falls in love with a doctor who cured his father’s illness. In a parallel story happening in Medan, Rubiah, a flirtatious mother (Siti Tanjung Perak) who abandoned her children and husband had been living with her adultery partner, but their relationship is getting shaky of late. She realizes that her former husband in Singapore is now an established and wealthy businessman, so she packed her bags once more and returns to Singapore. It turns out that she is in fact Mardiana’s mother. (We don’t realize this until halfway through the film). In Singapore, the returning adulterer rides a trishaw around town to look for House No. 174, Kim Seng Road, where her husband used to live, not knowing that the family has already moved uptown to a residential district for the ultra-wealthy. Undeterred, Rubiah continues her search, with a genuine desire to seek forgiveness for her past failings. Eventually, she has misgivings about whether her husband will allow a reunion and is going to leave Singapore again, until he turns up at the passenger wharf at Keppel Harbour…

 

 

Further Reading:
1. ‘Malay Film Company Goes ‘On Location’ in the Docks’. The Straits Times, 7 March 1952, p. 9.
2. Amir Muhammad, 120 Malay Movies (pp. 69-71). Petaling Jaya: Matahari Books, 2010.
3. Kim Seng Road. Singapore Infopedia. National Library Board, 2004.

Film Images:
© 1952 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:
© 2014 Toh Hun Ping