World War II

Last night my elderly housemate was watching one of those entertainment “news” shows while I was fixing supper. I normally just tune out the latest sleazy gossip, but my ears perked up when I heard a report on the new Tom Cruise film set to debut in June 2008. (That’s Cruise in the photo in profile compared to the real German officer he portrays.)

Directed by Bryan Singer, “Valkyrie” relates the involvement of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg in the July 20, 1944 plot to kill Adolf Hitler. Kenneth Branagh will play Henning Hermann Robert Karl von Tresckow, the German Werhrmach major general credited with organizing the German resistance.

Be forewarned that the above link is to the Internet Movie Database entry for the film, which includes (via a second link on the page) a full plot synopsis that contains significant spoilers for the film. If you don’t know the history behind the plot and don’t want to before you see the film, avoid that second link. I generally brush up on the history beforehand and then look for inaccuracies, but then I’m a big history nerd.

The show I was watching interviewed either Singer of Christopher McQuarrie who wrote the screenplay — I honestly don’t remember which — who said that it was not difficult to turn the story of the planned assassination into a high-tension thriller. As long as they’re reasonably true to the history, I’m fine with that and it is good to see World War II getting some big screen play again. I’ll be looking forward to this one.

WWII, World War II, Hitler assassination plot, Valkyrie, Tom Cruise