The Tin Drum (1979)

In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.

Director:

Volker Schlöndorff

Writers:

Günter Grass (novel), Jean-Claude Carrière

Stars:

David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler

Won 1 Oscar. Another 17 wins & 6 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...

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

Academy Award Winner Best Foreign Language Film 1979

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Alfred Matzerath says Jan Bronski is a Kashubian, part of a German/Polish ethnic group in north-central Poland, particularly Gdansk (formerly Danzig). The Nazis considered Kashubians Germans.

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Goofs

When painting the picnic scene on top of the bunker roof, the remains of Mulberry Harbor, in Arromanches, France, are visible in the background. The artificial harbor was set up days after the D-Day landing, and the scene is set way before it.

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Quotes

Agnes Matzerath: Don't expect me to touch your eels.
Alfred Matzerath: Don't put on airs.
Agnes Matzerath: I'll never eat fish again. Certainly not eels.
Alfred Matzerath: You've always eaten them, and you knew where they came from!

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Alternate Versions

In 2010, a director's cut was released in Germany which runs ca. 20 minutes longer.

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Connections

Referenced in Skylab (2011)

User Reviews

A haunting movie ...

I saw this flick many years ago, and there are images from this movie I shall probably take with me to the grave.

Things I saw in this movie that vividly stuck in my brain are such things as a huge eel being pulled out of a severed horses head that was just dragged from the sea on a rope, a soldier having carnal knowledge with a lady in the middle of a field while being hunted by another soldier, a young boy spitting into a hand of a young girl ...

And I could go on. This movie I found to be extremely unique and varied in many ways. I don't know that I can really recommend this movie all in all, but if you do watch it, be prepared for a very unique experience film wise.

Beamer

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

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,881

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