The Tin Drum (1979)

Danzig in the 1920s/1930s. Oskar Matzerath, son of a local dealer, is a most unusual boy. Equipped with full intellect right from his birth he decides at his third birthday not to grow up ... See full summary »

Director:

Volker Schlöndorff

Writers:

Günter Grass (novel), Jean-Claude Carrière

Stars:

David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler

Won 1 Oscar. Another 15 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mario Adorf	...	Alfred Matzerath
Angela Winkler	...	Agnes Matzerath
David Bennent	...	Oskar Matzerath
Katharina Thalbach	...	Maria Matzerath
Daniel Olbrychski	...	Jan Bronski
Tina Engel	...	Anna Koljaiczek (jung)
Berta Drews	...	Anna Koljaiczek
Roland Teubner	...	Joseph Koljaiczek
Tadeusz Kunikowski	...	Onkel Vinzenz
Andréa Ferréol	...	Lina Greff (as Andréa Ferreol)
Heinz Bennent	...	Greff
Ilse Pagé	...	Gretchen Scheffler
Werner Rehm	...	Scheffler
Käte Jaenicke	...	Mutter Truczinski
Helmut Brasch	...	Der Alte Heilandt (as Helmuth Brasch)

Storyline

Danzig in the 1920s/1930s. Oskar Matzerath, son of a local dealer, is a most unusual boy. Equipped with full intellect right from his birth he decides at his third birthday not to grow up as he sees the crazy world around him at the eve of World War II. So he refuses the society and his tin drum symbolizes his protest against the middle-class mentality of his family and neighborhood, which stand for all passive people in Nazi Germany at that time. However, (almost) nobody listens to him, so the catastrophe goes on...

---

Plot Keywords:

nazi | boy | nazi uniform | subjective camera | surrogate uncle | 

---

Taglines:

A savage, sweeping epic of society in chaos. [Video Australia]

---

Genres:

Drama | War

---

Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

West Germany France Poland Yugoslavia

Language:

German Italian Hebrew Polish Russian Latin

Release Date:

11 April 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Tin Drum

Filming Locations:

Wedding, Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Franz Seitz Filmproduktion, Bioskop Film, Artemis Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

142 min 162 min (director's cut) 132 min (1980 cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono (35 mm prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Color:

Black and White Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There are several references (on the English soundtrack/ subtitles) to 'Kashubians'. Jan Bronski is referred as a Kashubian by Alfred Matzerath. Kahsubia is an ethnic group, centred on north-central Poland, with the nominal capital being Gdansk (Danzig). Kashubians were considered by the Nazis as of German stock/ extraction.

---

Goofs

While depicting the picnic scene on top of the bunker roof, in the background are clearly visible remains of the Mulberry harbor, Arromanches, France. This artificial harbor was set up days after the D-Day landing, yet the scene plays way before it.

---

Quotes

Bebra: You must join us, you must!
Oskar Matzerath: You know, Mr. Bebra... to tell the truth, I prefer to be a member of the audience, and let my little art flower in secret.
Bebra: My dear Oskar, trust an experienced colleague. Our kind must never sit in the audience. Our kind must perform and run the show, or the others will run *us*. The others are coming. They will occupy the fairgrounds, they will stage torchlight parades, build rostrums, fill the rostrums, and from those rostrums preach our destruction.

---

Connections

Referenced in Le Skylab (2011)

User Reviews

Grotesque yet beautiful

Having read the greater-than-life novel by Günther Grass, this film is an interesting viewing for many reasons. Reason number 1: the most important reason is of course, how on earth did they manage to get anyone to play Oskar? The director has shown us a stroke of geniosity by casting a 12-year old boy as Oskar, who besides is a brilliant actor (I wonder whatever became of him). Reason number two: how could anyone ever visualize the grotesque and chaotic scenes in the book? Once again the director comes up with something brilliant, he makes the scenes as graphic as possible, he doesn't care about the MPAA, he doesn't care about movie-watchers with heart problems, and he's not afraid of overdoing anything. He puts as much force and effort in the scenes as possible, and they come out brilliantly. Reason number 3: How does he capture the moods of the multi-layered book? He simply stays very faithful to the books text and uses camera angles, lighting effects and music perfectly to accompany the visions of Günther Grass. Those are the most apparent reasons and because of those, the film is brilliant. The only flaw is leaving the story unfinished (although, the ones who never read the book, won't notice that). Altogether, an interesting, stylish and rewarding film experience.