Written by Saeroen, directed by Albert Balink, and starring Rd Mochtar, Roekiah and Eddie T. Effendi, Terang Boelan follows two lovers who elope after one is almost forced to marry an opium smuggler.

It was aimed at native audiences and included keroncong music, which was popular at the time, and several actors from Balink's previous work Pareh (1936).

The Great Depression had led to the Dutch East Indies government collecting higher taxes and cinemas selling tickets at lower prices, ensuring that there was a very low profit margin for local films.

The Indonesian writer and cultural critic Armijn Pane wrote that Pareh had performed poorly with native audiences as it was seen as looking at them through European eyes.

[1] By late 1936 Balink had obtained financial backing from several domestic and foreign companies with which he, the Wongs, and Franken opened the Dutch Indies Film Syndicate (Algemeen Nederlandsch Indisch Filmsyndicaat, or ANIF) in Batavia (now Jakarta).

[7] The story for Terang Boelan was written by Saeroen, a reporter with the newspaper Pemandangan who had close connections to the theatrical community, shortly after the domestic release of the American-produced Dorothy Lamour vehicle The Jungle Princess (1936), which served as an inspiration.

[9] The Indonesian film critic Salim Said also recognised such similarities, describing Terang Boelan as reflecting the "jungle princess" works popular at the time.

[16] Terang Boelan was shot in black-and-white using highly flammable nitrate film at Cilincing in Batavia, Merak Beach in Banten, and Tanjong Katong in Singapore.

Other cast members, including the leading lady Roekiah and her husband Kartolo, were drawn from traditional toneel theatrical troupes; this may have been part of an effort to attract theatregoers.

[23] After being licensed by RKO Radio Pictures, the film was screened in British Malaya, where it was advertised as "the first and best Malay musical" and earned 200,000 Straits dollars (then equivalent to US$ 114,470[24]) in two months.

[25] Terang Boelan proved to be the most successful production in the area until Krisis (Crisis) in 1953, released after the Netherlands recognised Indonesia's independence in 1949.

[32] Four new production houses were established in 1940,[33] and actors and actresses previously attached to theatrical troupes entered the film industry, which was reaching new audiences.

[36] Heider considered Terang Boelan one of the two most important cinematic works from the Dutch East Indies during the 1930s; Balink's earlier film Pareh was the other.

[14] Biran considered the film a turning point in the history of Indonesian cinema, showing the possibilities of the medium and serving as a catalyst for further development.

[18] In a 1991 publication Said, Heider, and the American translator John H. McGlynn expressed hope that a copy of the film might be lying around in someone's attic or closet in Indonesia or the Netherlands.