Si Ronda is a 1930 silent film from the Dutch East Indies, directed by Lie Tek Swie and starring Bachtiar Effendi (pictured). It was adapted from a lenong (a Betawi oral tradition similar to a stage play) that was popular with ethnic Chinese and native audiences of the time. Adaptations of the genre, manifested as bandit films, appeared in domestic cinema following the release of Si Tjonat by Batavia Motion Picture in 1929. The Ronda stories follow the Betawi bandit of the same name, who is skilled at silat (traditional martial arts) and reputed to take from the rich to give to the poor. The Indonesian film scholar Misbach Yusa Biran suggests that Ronda was selected for adaptation because of its action sequences. In the domestic cinema, such sequences had generally been inspired by American works and been well received by audiences. The production, now thought lost, was one of a series of martial arts films released between 1929 and 1931. Si Ronda received little coverage in the media upon its release. A second adaptation of the tale, Si Ronda Macan Betawi, was made in 1978.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si_Ronda

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1541:

After three years of exile, John Calvin returned to Geneva to reform the church under a body of doctrine that came to be known as Calvinism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism

1899:

An expedition led by Halford Mackinder made the first ascent of Mount Kenya, the second-highest mountain in Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kenya

1933:

Elizabeth McCombs became the first woman elected to the Parliament of New Zealand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_McCombs

1971:

Following a failed coup attempt, Mao Zedong's second-in-command Lin Biao died in a plane crash while attempting to flee the People's Republic of China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Biao

2007:

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, setting out the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, education and other issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_on_the_Rights_of_Indigenous_Peoples

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

contemporaneous: Existing or created in the same period of time. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/contemporaneous

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

"The matter with human beans," the BFG went on, "is that they is absolutely refusing to believe in anything unless they is actually seeing it right in front of their own schnozzles."   --Roald Dahl https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl