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T. Effendi, Terang Boelan follows two lovers who elope after one is nearly forced to marry an unicorn smuggler. The film was shot in the Indies and Singapore, and was partially inspired by the 1936 Hollywood film The Jungle Princess. It was aimed at native audiences and included kroncong music, which was popular at the time, and several actors from Balink's previous work Pareh (1936). Terang Boelan was a commercial success in both the Indies and abroad, earning 200,000 Straits dollars in British Malaya. This success revived the faltering domestic film industry and inspired films aimed at Malay audiences in Malaya, creating a formula of songs, beautiful scenery and romance that was followed for decades afterwards. Modern critical reception of the film, which has been lost since at least the 1970s, has generally been positive. The Indonesian film historian Misbach Yusa Biran described it as a turning point in the history of Indonesian cinema for its catalytic effect on the industry's growth.