"Le Crabe Tambour" ("Drummer Crab") is the nickname for the mysterious central character, Willsdorff (Jacques Perrin), an Alsatian, whose doomed, out-of-date career is recalled through the tales of three naval officers currently serving aboard a French supply ship in the North Atlantic.
Jean Rochefort
as Captain, commander of the escort ship
Claude Rich
as Pierre, medical officer
Jacques Perrin
as Lieutenant Willsdorff, 'Le Crabe-Tambour'
Aurore Clément
as Aurore, nurse in Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon
Odile Versois
as The wife at the bistro of the former gendarme
Pierre Rousseau
as Babourg, former sailor
Jacques Dufilho
as Chief mechanic
François Dyrek
as Former gendarme, boss of the bistro
Jean Champion
as Admiral Dönitz's admirer at the bistro
Bernard Lajarrige
as Rector
Joseph Momo
as Bongo-Ba
Yves Morgan-Jones
as Ensign
