Just for your interest, about the "Surabaya" movie clip:
As mentioned, it's a pull from a 1966 film called
Dibalik Tjahaja Gemerlapan, which
is a treasured bit of Indonesian cinema history, and which just had its best existing
35mm film print painstakingly restored.
I suppose we're looking at a play-within-a-play scene, with the band pretending that
a movie soundstage really is a stage in the scenario of the movie.
The supporting mummery has to do with the 1945 Battle of Surabaya, sparked by
Great Britain's attempt to mind the colonial store in the absence of the Dutch...
who had earlier been driven out by the invading Imperial Army of Japan.
East Java didn't want to see any of that lot coming back again.
The former Hotel Oranje, temporarily renamed Yamato by the occupiers, was the scene
of a dramatic capture-the-flag maneuver by members of an Indonesian citizen militia.
The cupola where the flag flew is painted into the stage set.
The two clowns apparently represent the Indonesian army and the irregular insurgent
forces. They don't get along very well because the latter thought they were fighting
for a socialist people's republic, and the former were more comfortable with a
right-wing military dictatorship.
Film synopsis gleaned from Indonesian Wikipedia: id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dibalik_Tjahaja_Gemerlapan Behind the Glittering Light
is an Indonesian film released in 1966, directed
by Misbach Yusa Biran with major stars Soekarno M. Noer and Titiek Puspa.
The film won the 1967 National Film Appreciation Awards for Director, Male Lead
(Soekarno M. Noer), and Male Supporting Actor (to comedian Atmonadi).
Djoni (Soekarno M. Noer), a promoter who has cheated artists, is entrusted with
organizing a musical review to raise funds for dance performances. Top singers
Rachmat Kartolo and Titiek Puspa are the stars. Though often dishonest, Djoni
is known for his shrewdness. This time he stages the show in a bizarre way.
They simply set out for Bandung by borrowing a bus, without a plan.
On the way, there's a lot of bickering and jealousy, as well as suspicion of
anti-communist sentiments against Djoni. The film is a bittersweet backstage
story. However, in the end the performance is a success. No need to wonder, 79 year old actress and singer Titiek Puspa is no relation
whatever to Titiek from Dara Puspita. DP appear as themselves, I guess.
Their name's on the drumhead.
〜〜〜
Kharis Ekky is the pro at
Render Digital Indonesia, who posted the YT song clip upstairs.
He doesn't mind showing his work. To get rid of damage and flaws in the film original,
some legitimate image information gets sacrificed (here, lots of minute details of texture
in backgrounds faithfully if irrelevantly captured by the camera). But he even repaired
the blown highlights on the dark but high-key faces.
When you compare the "before" positive film scan with the "after" 4K digital restoration,
you see that the results sacrifice a bit of contrast for the sake of re-creating detail, and
also have an artificial smoothness and lack of film grain that's a little eerie. It came out
more like impossibly clean B&W broadcast TV than a 50 year old film print.
DARA PUSPITA - SURABAYA (Before-After)2017 MAY 12 by Kharis Ekky (02:57)
Video clip taken from the film "Dibalik Tjahaja Gemerlapan"
("Behind the Glittering Light", 1966)
Source 35mm〜〜〜
BTW from his Instagram, here's the penetrating
contralto of Titiek Puspa in her prime:
http://instagr.am/p/BX4eOSVAHNL
I liked the unrestored version better. Here's another
glimpse of the digital restoration process:
http://instagr.am/p/BXzi4VVALOy
