Showtime 1958
First let me advise that I m a Greek fan of Malaysian
music very long time starting around 1990 and know many singers and songs from this country . This movie depicts the story
of a music hall on April 4th 1958 before its workers decided to strike against the management for salary increase
short time before the local Eid.
This is also the story behind the song
selamat hari raya was written. This is one of
the most famous songs for Ramadan. Known
to me since the early 90s.
The movie
stars P Ramlee the most important legendary singer actor and mucn more.
He is a prominent icon of Malay language entertainment. I know him long ago
with getaran jiwa being one of his most important
song. Saloma one of the most important female singer of the time acts as in a second
role as juror nthe embroidery competition mentioned in the next paragraph. SriP
Ramlees role is not exactly the first and let me why:..
In my view, the primary roles are shared by
Vijayanti and David. Two distinct storylines serve as subplots in the main
plot. David is a converted Christian and is engaged to a Malaysian woman who
also works in the music hall, but is soon leaving for Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile,
Vijayanti protects and manages her two younger siblings. She accidentally
enters the hall without realizing it and participates in an embroidery
competition. At the conclusion of her performance, she sang "Nino
Bobo," one of the most well-known lullabies originally performed by a
Dutch singer in Indonesia. David was asked to replace the singer by chance.
Music wise the movie was filed by the typical musical
and theatrical show. Saloma was next to P
Ramlee. Hitam Manis was sung by P Ramlee
as also the featured song selamat hari raya in the end of the show for the first
time The audience also followed singing it Movie was filled with songs from Awie
. I was really impressed on Vijayanti’s singing performance and was also curious on how the lighting was focused
on her. A supposedly village woman singing and staging as a pro…
Amai Kamrudin describes well the role for P Ramlee
. I don’t know anything about τhis legendary singer but the expressions of Amais face shows a rather
arrogant character although he always appear
happy .
I conclude the review adding the last paragraph from another blogger that concludes
on what the movie is officially about that shows better on how P Ramlee assisted
his mates in the theatre
Showtime 1958 is a bit of a confounding movie with little plot to speak of, but it is a very good demonstration of the power of worker solidarity through an age where movie magic and the trappings of fame and fortune wouldn’t seemingly go so hand-in-hand with a progressive and supportive union.
https://butwhytho.net/2022/05/review-showtime-1958-what-cinemas-all-about/
PS Needless to advise Vijayanti was the contest winner but there was ….a funny twist . if you are curious just see the movie ! There was another nearly-no-twist but very good over her!
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