{"id":1180,"date":"2026-07-21T21:17:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imagined.my\/?p=1180"},"modified":"2026-07-21T21:17:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T13:17:44","slug":"p-ramlee-and-sergeant-hassan-1958","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imagined.my\/?p=1180","title":{"rendered":"P. Ramlee and Sergeant Hassan, 1958"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Research By Allan Pang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cover of the movie’s promotional brochure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In August 1958, the Shaws Malay Film Productions released a new film, Sergeamt Hassan<\/em>, featuring P. Ramlee. Like many other Malay-language films of the era, this production had an ethno-national focus emphasising the Malays in Malaya. As Ralph Modder, author of the story, wrote for a promotional brochure,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018[T]he story\u2026 is based on fiction, but it symbolises the fighting spirit and gallantry of the men of the Malay Regiment who fought and died when the Japanese invaded Malaya, proudly upholding their tradition \u201cTa\u2019at dan Setia\u201d which means Loyal and True\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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A page from the promotional brochure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The brochure, which introduced the film in English and Malay (both Rumi and Jawi), proudly presented P. Ramlee as a national artist of Malaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018P. RAMLEE. Seniman, biduan, pengarah, penggubah lagu\u2026 pemuda kebangaan Malaya, beraksi dengan dui hadiah2 Festival yang dimenanginya.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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An introduction to P. Ramlee in the brochure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This brochure published in 1958 may give us some clues to challenge this \u2018national\u2019 image of the production. This Malayan film was first released in Singapore, but its production was transregional in origin. It was produced by filmmaker Run Run Shaw under the Shaws Malay Film Productions. We nowadays tend to think about the Shaw Brothers as a Hong Kong-based company producing Chinese-language movies. Nevertheless, the Shaw Brothers once owned important Malay film production studios. From the 1920s-30s onwards, Runme Shaw and Run Run Shaw produced not only Chinese but also Indian, Indonesian, and Western films with cinemas across Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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L: Runme Shaw
R: Run Run Shaw
Source: Wikipedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2022The production of Sergeant Hassan<\/em>, like other Shaw movies, also utilised the company\u2019s transregional ties. As the brochure introduced, the production involved not only P. Ramlee and Run Run Shaw but also people across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘Mr. Shaw, after several conferences, decided that the best man to direct the picture would be Lamberto V. Avallena, of the Philippines. Avallena won the \u201cBest Director\u201d award at the Asian Film Festival in Tokyo in 1957 and had directed nine war pictures in the Philippines and in Korea.’<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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‘Mr. Shaw also reailsed that in filming \u201cSERGEANT HASSAN\u201d a tremendous amount of the explosions would be necessary. So, he sent for Crisanto Hilario from the Philippines to supervise the explosions in the battle scenes\u2026’<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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An excerpt of the brochure<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2022Was the role of P. Ramlee in Malay-language cinema simply national? The early cooperation between P. Ramlee and the Shaws Malay Film Productions paved the way for him to develop his career beyond Malaya and Southeast Asia. In 1962, P. Ramlee had a guest appearance in Love Parade<\/em>, a Shaw production in Hong Kong. He hoped to bring Malay filmmaking to Hong Kong because of the Shaw Brothers\u2019 internationalist vision and their technologies. In other words, his vision for the Malay cinema went beyond the ethnonational discourse in Malaya, with the desire to raise its status internationally beyond Malay-speaking audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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P. Ramlee and his wife Saloma appearing in Love Parade<\/em>
Source: IMDb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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