Ho Ah Loke (1901 - 16 September 1982) was born in British New Guinea, now Papua New Guinea, and studied in Edinburgh and Penang before graduating in mechanical engineering from the University of Hong Kong. He began running cinemas and distributing films in 1926, building a circuit across northern Malaya and southern Thailand. In 1948 his cinemas were merged into International Theatre Ltd, a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Cathay Organisation that was later expanded as Loke's Theatre Ltd under his charge, and that year he also became head of Cathay's film scheduling department and a board director-manager. He founded Keris Studio in 1951 and in 1953 joined Loke Wan Tho to form Cathay-Keris Film Productions, which made Malay-language films at a studio converted from former Japanese army barracks on East Coast Road, Singapore. Its output included Bamboo of Yearning (1953), Singapore and Malaya's first colour feature, the box-office hit Pontianak, released as The Vampire (1957), and the company's first widescreen feature, Curse of the Vampire (1958). The 1957 horror film, drawn from Malay folklore, ran for months, was dubbed in Cantonese for Hong Kong and even sold to an American television station, and it established a genre. Under Ho, Cathay-Keris rivalled Shaw Brothers' Malay Film Productions and brought colour, widescreen technology and competition to the industry; when a labour dispute and strike shook Malayan filmmaking in 1957 he backed the strikers and recruited experienced directors, strengthening his studio. After leaving Cathay in 1959 he set up the Independent Film Company, moved to Kuala Lumpur, co-produced films with Indonesian studios and was credited as writer-director of Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining. Working in exhibition, distribution and production for more than thirty years, he was regarded as an outstanding producer and an eccentric of the film world, and as one of Cathay's leading figures. He died of illness on 16 September 1982.
Ho Ah Loke linked exhibition, distribution and production into a single chain and pushed Cathay from a cinema operator into a film producer. Cathay-Keris, which he formed with Loke Wan Tho, gave Singapore and Malaya their first local colour and widescreen films and, through Pontianak, launched a wave of Malay-language horror cinema that broke Shaw Brothers' near-monopoly.
Achievements
- 1948 · His cinema chains were incorporated into Cathay's International Theatre Ltd; that year he became head of the film scheduling department and a board director-manager
- 1951 · Founded Keris Studio, extending from distribution into film production
- 1953 · Formed Cathay Keris Film Productions with Loke Wan Tho, making Singapore and Malaya's first colour film, Bamboo of Yearning