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Deane DickasonCoveted East Indies, The (Part I) (1938)

This film appears MOS, but originally had sound and was produced and narrated by the radio world travel radio commentator Deane Dickason. Interesting silent portrait of cultural life in the East Indies during Dutch colonialism.
PA8530 Coveted East Indies, The 16mm Koda travelogue, 2 reels, ca. 1938-39


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Deane Dickason
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: Travelogues; East Indies; Netherlands: History and Culture; Indonesia; Colonization

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: sgieben - - March 19, 2008
Subject: This is not an example of 'look how rich we are'
The unique 'home' footage of this film shows the private and public life of Van Starkenborg Stachouwer, the viceroy of the Dutch East Indies until 1942. This man was the highest civil servant, representing the Dutch queen. Pomp & circumstance came with the job. In his palace formal receptions of the great princes of Indonesia and other high dignitaries took place. The abode of the ruling power had to be at least as grand as those of the subordinate powers, in a country like indonesia where appearance was all-important. By contrast, showing off personal riches was completely unacceptable among the Dutch upper class in those days.
The 'ridiculous meal' is a 'rijsttafel' or rice table, a traditional East Indian feast which in the film is served at the chic Hotel des Indes and which is still served in Indonesian restaurants.
Although the contrast between the colonials and the child laborers in this film is glaring, this was considered normal at the time.

Extraordinary footage!

Reviewer: Juan Schwarz - - December 21, 2006
Subject: Nice
The film itself is interesting, it shows kinda a past time, only it's in colour this in this case, black and white is so distancing, colour makes things really come to life. About the film... it was 99.999% surely shot silent, in those days the amateur camera didn't have any sound recording possibilities... I'd also say it was a mechanical camera, so it didn't even have an electrical motor. And I suppose that back then it was kinda OK to show these "look how rich we are" (that description hits the nail on its head) scenes, it's logical, only upper class people could afford filming, even more if in colour. Anyway interesting stuff...

Reviewer: Melkor - - August 28, 2003
Subject: The Coveted East Indies (Part II)
The Coveted East Indies (Part II)

Reviewer: Spuzz - - August 6, 2003
Subject: No Wonder it's coveted!
This gorgeously colorful (silent) film seems to be split in two. The first part seems to of be the "Oh look how rich we are" variety. We see many rich (white) people frolucking around, sitting sown, reading, getting served this ridiculous meal, servants waiting to serve them, and in one awesome scene, a white boy is compared to a Indonesian worker boy. It's an unnerving scene. The 2nd half, except for a rather bunch of naval scenes (woo! Mine laying!) seems to get off it's rich kick, and more focus on the people and the industry. Some gorgeous photography is shown here, with some fascinating shots of fabric designing and the people who make it. Quite interesting, it does take a little time to start picking up, but aside from a few scenes, quite fascinating, historical and reccomended.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - July 16, 2003
Subject: The Coveted East Indies (Full Film)
This late 30s color travelogue is missing its soundtrack, or maybe it was silent to begin withÂÂit's hard to tell. Anyway, it's about the Dutch East Indies and it gives an interesting snapshot of what the islands were like on the eve of WWII. There's lots of class differences apparent here, with lots of footage of rich upper-class white people contrasted with the poor, hardworking natives. There's lots of military footage, too, as the island gear up for war. And there's lots of ordinary travelogue stuff, such as scenery and the locals showng us their culture. I sure wish there was a soundtrack to explain some of this stuff, but even without it there are some striking images, such as a bizarre poster of a political cartoon with the caption in Dutch, the sad face of a child peddlar who carries a huge yoke of stuff on his shoulders, and local women demonstrating various native crafts related to fabric dying. A great historical snapshot of a single place at a single time.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.