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From today's featured article

Newspaper advertisement in Dutch for Soeara Berbisa

Soeara Berbisa (Indonesian for Venomous Voice) is a 1941 film from the Dutch East Indies. Produced by Ang Hock Liem for Union Films and directed by R Hu, this black-and-white film starred Raden Soekarno, Ratna Djoewita, Oedjang, and Soehaena. The story, written by Djojopranoto, follows two young men who compete for the affections of a woman before learning that they are long-lost brothers. Completed between September and October 1941, Soeara Berbisa featured kroncong music and was shot partly in western Java. It was released to coincide with the Eid al-Fitr holiday, and rated for all ages. Advertisements (example shown) emphasised the film's appeal to both Native and Dutch audiences, and a review in De Indische Courant was positive. This was Union's penultimate production before the company closed after the Japanese occupied the Indies in March 1942. Soeara Berbisa was screened as late as 1949 and is now likely lost. Part of the Union Films featured topic. (Full article...)

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In the news

Murchison meteorite fragment

Scientists announce that presolar stardust grains in the Murchison meteorite (fragment pictured) formed five to seven billion years ago, and are the oldest solid material found on Earth to date.
In American football, the LSU Tigers defeat the Clemson Tigers to win the College Football National Championship.
Robert Abela replaces Joseph Muscat as Prime Minister of Malta in the wake of protests over the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Taal Volcano in the Philippines erupts, leading to the suspension of all flights at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

On this day

January 15: John Chilembwe Day in Malawi

Wilson Bentley taking a
photograph of a snowflake

1865 – American Civil War: The Union Army captured Fort Fisher, the last seaport of the Confederacy.
1885 – Wilson Bentley took the first known photograph of a snowflake by attaching a bellows camera to a microscope (process pictured).
1947 – The mutilated corpse of the "Black Dahlia", a 22-year-old woman whose murder is one of the most famous unsolved crimes in the U.S., was found in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
1975 – Portugal signed the Alvor Agreement with the nationalist factions of UNITA, the MPLA, and the FNLA, ending the Angolan War of Independence.
1993 – Salvatore Riina, one of the most powerful members of the Sicilian Mafia, was arrested in Palermo after 23 years as a fugitive.

Philip Livingston (b. 1716) · Friedrich Parrot (d. 1841) · Sylvia Lawler (b. 1922)

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Today's featured picture

Ivor Novello (15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh songwriter, composer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers in the first half of the 20th century. His first big hit was "Keep the Home Fires Burning", remembered as among the greatest of World War I songs. Later he contributed numbers to several successful musical comedies, and wrote the scores of complete shows. In the 1920s, he turned to acting, first in British films and then on stage, achieving considerable fame, and in the 1930s he had some of his biggest successes with stage musicals.

This image forms part of the George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress, which includes photographs taken by Bain and images covering worldwide events gathered by him for news distribution purposes; the date, location and photographer of this nonchalant portrait are unknown.

Photograph credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden

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