 = Ouw Peh Tjoa = 
 
 Ouw Peh Tjoa ( Chinese : 水淹金山 ; Hokkien for Black and White Snakes ) , also known by the Malay @-@ language title Doea Siloeman Oeler Poeti en Item ( meaning Two Snakes , One White and One Black ) , is a 1934 film from the Dutch East Indies ( now Indonesia ) . It was directed and produced by The Teng Chun . Adapted from Legend of the White Snake , a Chinese folktale , it follows a magical snake who passes as a human but ultimately dies . The film , now possibly lost , was followed by one sequel , Anaknja Siloeman Oeler Poeti , in 1936 . 
 
 = = Plot = = 
 
 After meditating for several hundred years , a magical white snake transforms into a beautiful woman . Her competitor , a black snake , does likewise . The two compete for the love of a man named Khouw Han Boen . Ultimately Khouw agrees to marry the ( former ) white snake , but when her true identity is revealed he attempts to cancel their wedding . The snake @-@ woman , crying , tells Khouw 's boss that they are to be married , and ultimately Khouw is guilted into marrying her . 
 As time passes , Khouw sees his wife occasionally transform into a snake . She is always , however , able to convince him otherwise . He falls further in love with her , and their marriage is a happy one . After several months he is accosted by a priest , Hoat Hae Sian Soe , who then leads an attempt to kill the snake @-@ woman . She escapes , pursued by the priests . 
 The priests catch the snake and prepare to kill her , but are stopped by the goddess Kwan Im , who tells the stunned pursuers that the snake is pregnant and thus must not be killed . A month after the snake gives birth , the priests return . The snake @-@ woman gives her child to Khouw and then surrenders herself to her fate . She is captured in a magical jar and brought away . 
 
 = = Production = = 
 
 Ouw Peh Tjoa was directed and produced by The Teng Chun for his company , Cino Motion Pictures . Since releasing Sam Pek Eng Tay in 1931 , based on the legend of the Butterfly Lovers , The Teng Chun had released a series of films based on Chinese legends and folktales , including Pat Bie To ( Eight Beautiful Women ; 1932 ) and Pat Kiam Hiap ( Eight Swordsmen ; 1933 ) . These stories were selected because the peranakan Chinese in the Indies were unable to understand Mandarin and Cantonese imports from China , but wanted to see films based on Chinese mythology . Overall , The Teng Chun 's films emphasised the martial art silat and were generally profitable , allowing him to dominate the industry . 
 The cast of this black @-@ and @-@ white film is unrecorded . The dialogue , captured by the film 's director @-@ cum @-@ producer , was in Malay . The snakes used in the production of this film came from The Teng Chun 's personal zoo . 
 
 = = Release and reception = = 
 
 According to The , in a 1970s interview , Ouw Peh Tjoa was released in 1934 . Newspaper advertisements show the film being screened by February 1935 . The film mostly targeted ethnic Chinese audiences . Advertising material , however , emphasised the use of spoken Malay and described the film as " full of astonishments and all forms of magic fights " ; through these action sequences , Ouw Peh Tjoa proved popular among native audiences . The film was exported to Singapore , part of the Straits Settlements , where there was a large ethnic Chinese population . 
 The success of Ouw Peh Tjoa allowed The Teng Chun to import new equipment for his studio ( renamed Java Industrial Film ) , which he used in his future productions . The film was followed in 1936 by a sequel , Anaknja Siloeman Oeler Poeti ( Child of the White Snake ) . The Teng Chun continued releasing films based on Chinese legends until 1937 , a year after Albert Balink 's Pareh changed domestic perceptions of profitable film storylines . The 's later films adapted stories closer to the native populace of the Indies and focussing on events that could happen in day @-@ to @-@ day life . Through 1940 and 1941 Java Industrial Films was the most productive studio in the Indies , until it was shut down during the Japanese occupation which began in March 1942 . 
 Screenings of Ouw Peh Tjoa continued until at least 1953 . The film is now likely lost . Movies in the Indies were recorded on highly flammable nitrate film , and after a fire destroyed much of Produksi Film Negara 's warehouse in 1952 , old films shot on nitrate were deliberately destroyed . As such , the American visual anthropologist Karl G. Heider writes that all Indonesian films from before 1950 are lost . However , JB Kristanto 's Katalog Film Indonesia ( Indonesian Film Catalogue ) records several as having survived at Sinematek Indonesia 's archives , and Biran writes that several Japanese propaganda films have survived at the Netherlands Government Information Service . 
 
 = = Explanatory notes = = 
 
 
 