Le Crabe-Tambour (1977)

A dying French naval frigate captain tries to make a last rendezvous in the winter storm-tossed seas off the Grand Banks, with "le crab tambour," a French war hero he had betrayed twenty ... See full summary »

Director:

Pierre Schoendoerffer

Writers:

Jean-François Chauvel (adaptation), Pierre Schoendoerffer (adaptation),

Stars:

Jean Rochefort, Claude Rich, Aurore Clément

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean Rochefort	...	Captain
Claude Rich	...	Le médecin, Pierre
Aurore Clément	...	Aurore (as Aurore Clement)
Odile Versois	...	Madame
Pierre Rousseau
Jacques Dufilho	...	Chef mécanicien
Jacques Perrin	...	Lt. Willsdorff, 'le Crabe-Tambour'
Yann Brannelec
Jean Champion
Nguyen Long Cuong
François Dyrek	...	(as Francois Dyrex)
Jean Hennau
Yves Morgan-Jones
Bernard La Jarrige	...	Le recteur
François Landolf	...	(as Francois Landolt)

Storyline

A dying French naval frigate captain tries to make a last rendezvous in the winter storm-tossed seas off the Grand Banks, with "le crab tambour," a French war hero he had betrayed twenty years earlier. "Le crab tambour" the drummer crab" was a boyhood nickname for the handsome young Alsatian whom the film depicts proving his courage, first in the war in French Indochina, and then again in the "Generals' Revolt" in Algeria. Courtmartialed because friends like the French naval captain were afraid to risk their own careers by testifying for him, the exiled "crab tambour" and his trawler, The Shamrock, is now a legend among the Grand Banks fishermen.

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Plot Keywords:

french indochina | indochina | algeria | french army | naval uniform | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | War

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

9 November 1977 (France)

Also Known As:

Drummer-Crab

Company Credits

Production Co:

AMLF, Bela Productions, Lira Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Kashmir"
Performed by Led Zeppelin

User Reviews

Beautiful picture about a mythical soldier

There are many war movies, but few movies about war. War movies are usually action movies set during a war. Other movies deal about war itself, why the people do it, why they enjoy it and suffer from it. Like Apocalypse Now or the Thin Red Line, The Crabe-Tambour is about war, though, unlike these movies, it shows little of it. It tells the story of Wilsdorf, a.k.a. the "Drummer-Crab", a French officer in the colonial armies, who witnessed (and took part in) the fall of the French empire after WWII. The man himself has become a legend and lives in the memories of fellow soldiers, who tell different tales - fantastic, ironic - about him. Wilsdorf appears as an elusive and shining ghost, a youthful figure of their past, who is still roaming the world as a free man while they grow old and embittered. Some may find there both a dubious fascination for the military (strongly reminiscent of Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese series) and nostalgia for the colonies. However, it's so beautifully filmed that this can be easily forgiven.