according to bachtiar effendi, an actor and later film director who had worked with lie several times, lie had worked at a film distributor's office before joining tan's, handling the distribution and sometimes editing of hollywood imports. the indonesian film historian misbach yusa biran credits this as giving lie a wider worldview and more modern sensibilities while directing. in 1929 lie directed his first film, "njai dasima", for tan's film. the two-part film, which followed a woman who was tricked into leaving her wealthy lover by a "delman" driver, was a critical success; it was lie's first adaptation of a literary work, having been derived from the novel "tjerita njai dasima" ("story of njai dasima"), written by g. francis in 1896.