Valkyrie

Year:

2008

Duration:

121 min

Genres:

Drama | Thriller | War

IMDB rate:

7.1

Director:

Bryan Singer

Awards:

2 wins & 9 nominations

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 2008-12-25

Filming Locations: Beelitz-Heilstätten, Beelitz, Brandenburg, Germany

Earnings

Budget: $75,000,000

Opening Weekend: $21,027,007 (USA) (28 December 2008)

Gross: $83,077,833 (USA) (16 April 2009)

Cast

Actor

Character

Tom Cruise

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg

Kenneth Branagh

Major-General Henning von Tresckow

Bill Nighy

General Friedrich Olbricht

Tom Wilkinson

General Friedrich Fromm

Carice van Houten

Nina von Stauffenberg

Thomas Kretschmann

Major Otto Ernst Remer

Terence Stamp

Ludwig Beck

Eddie Izzard

General Erich Fellgiebel

Kevin McNally

Dr. Carl Goerdeler

Christian Berkel

Colonel Mertz von Quirnheim

Jamie Parker

Lieutenant Werner von Haeften

David Bamber

Adolf Hitler

Tom Hollander

Colonel Heinz Brandt

David Schofield

Erwin von Witzleben

Kenneth Cranham

Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel

Halina Reijn

Margarethe von Oven

Werner Daehn

Major Ernst John von Freyend

Harvey Friedman

Dr. Joseph Goebbels

Matthias Schweighöfer

Lieutenant Herber

Waldemar Kobus

Police Chief Wolf-Heinrich von Helldorf

Florian Panzner

Second Lieutenant Hagen

Ian McNeice

Pompous General

Danny Webb

Captain Haans

Chris Larkin

Sergeant Helm

Matthew Burton

Lieutenant-General Adolf Heusinger

Philipp von Schulthess

Tresckow's Aide

Wotan Wilke Möhring

Sergeant Kolbe

Christian Oliver

Sergeant-Major Adam

Bernard Hill

Confident General - Desert

Julian Morris

Young Lieutenant - Desert

Helmut Stauss

Dr. Roland Freisler

Tim Williams

Doctor

Karl Alexander Seidel

Stauffenberg Child

Timo Huber

Stauffenberg Child

Justus Kammerer

Stauffenberg Child

Annika Becker

Stauffenberg Child

Marie Becker

Stauffenberg Child

Katharine Mehrling

Female Singer

Andy Gatjen

Angry SS Officer (as Andy Gätjen)

Achim Buch

Soldier

Manfred-Anton Algrang

Albert Speer

Matthias Freihof

Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler

Gerhard Haase-Hindenberg

Reich Marshal Hermann Göring

Jon Collin Barclay

Second Lieutenant Kretz

Matthias Ziesing

Young Officer - Wolf's Lair

Tom Wlaschiha

Communications Officer

Carsten Voigt

Checkpoint Guard

O'Shea Miles

Sentry - OKH (as Miles O'Shea)

Anna Holmes

Central Communications Operator

Michael Schumacher

Young Officer

Niklas Bardeli

Aide to Stauffenberg

Christoph Förster

Aide to Stauffenberg

Andre Schwedt

Keitel's Adjutant

Isabella Drischel

War Ministry Secretary

Max Urlacher

Officer

Justin Beard

Wolf's Lair Operator

Tilmann von Blomberg

Arresting Officer

Karsten Mielke

Remer's Driver

Jason Barry

SS Officer (uncredited)

Joel Bryant

S.S. Soldier (uncredited)

Mike Dunn

German Motorcycle Driver - Afrika Scene (uncredited)

Wolfgang Grossmann

Standartenführer Neuner (uncredited)

Michael Ihnow

Officer (uncredited)

Efka Kvaraciejus

Berghoff SS Soldier (uncredited)

Kyle Leatherberry

SS Officer #3 (uncredited)

Hendrik Maaß

Wehrmacht Soldier / Wehrmacht First Lieutenant (uncredited)

Daniel Mandehr

SS Officer (uncredited)

Jacob Newton

Nazi Soldier (uncredited)

Dieter Rupp

Paramedical Officer (uncredited)

Dylan Saccoccio

Shirtless German Soldier (uncredited)

Gubbi Sigurdsson

German Soldier (uncredited)

Tyrell van Boog

Lieutenant (uncredited)

Sean Velie

Injured Soldier - Desert (uncredited)

Nicolas Walier

Waiter #2 (uncredited)

Did you know?

Trivia

(at around 41 mins) When Adolf Hitler signs the revised Valkyrie, the fountain pen clipped to Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg's bag is a Pelikan M100, produced in Germany during World War II.

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This is the second movie in which Kenneth Branagh, Kevin McNally and Ian McNeice have appeared together. The other was Conspiracy (2001). Both movies are based on true events from World War II and both are stories from the German side. Here they are Adolf Hitler's enemies, while in the other they are following Hitler's regime.

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(at around 42 mins) When Christian Berkel's character is having the initial conversation with the other conspirators about the application of explosives and says "The trick is not to be around when they go off" is the same line David Niven says to Gregory Peck's character in The Guns of Navarone (1961).

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Goofs

Stauffenberg is shown to have arrived at the "Wolfs Lair" in a Junkers-52. However, he made his journey from Berlin to the "Wolfs Lair" using a Heinkel-111, a German middle range bomber.

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(at around 1h 8 mins) The table leg where Colonel Claus Schenk Graf Von Stauffenberg places the bomb was a "stout" (block) leg not a peg leg as shown in the scene. This was the critical difference in saving Hitler's life, because Colonel Brandt, trying to get a better view of the map, moved the briefcase to the other side of the stout block, away from Hitler. The blast thus blew away from Hitler, and ironically toward Brandt, who died from it.

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(at around 1h 18 mins) On the banner with the inscription "Führer befiehl, wir folgen dir", the font used is a Gothic type. This is extremely improbable, given that Hitler had banned all Gothic types in 1941 while openly stating that they were of Jewish origin.

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Quotes

Col. Claus von Stauffenberg: I'm a soldier, I serve my country. But this is not my country. I was lying out there bleeding to death, thinking, if I die now, I leave nothing to my children but shame. I know now there is only one way to serve Germany, and doing so I'll be a traitor - I accept that. Just tell me, can these men see it through?

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Ludwig Beck: Gentlemen, we can save Europe from total destruction.

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Col. Claus von Stauffenberg: If I fail, they'll come for you. They'll come for all of you.

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Faq

Q

What was with the creepy stare that Hitler gave Stauffenberg in the Wolf's lair? Did he suspect him of something?

A

It is possible that Hitler suspected him of something, but it's more likely that he just didn't really give a damn about Stauffenberg, which is why he didn't really acknowledge him to begin with. By this point in history, Hitler was beginning to come unhinged mentally, which was attested to by many witnesses. This could be the movie's attempt to portray Hitler slipping in and out of his mental capacities. The interaction also cements Stauffenberg's resolve that Hitler is incapable of continuing to rule Germany. An alternate theory is that it was simply, from Stauffenberg's point of view, that he thought he may have been discovered. We see pretty much every person that looked his way who wasn't in on the plan looked at him suspiciously to portray the paranoia of someone in Stauffenberg's position.

Q

It's obvious how this movie ends, so what is the point?

A

Well, we know how World War II ends, that doesn't mean there's no point in watching movies like Saving Private Ryan (1998), Das Boot (1981), or The Pianist (2002). This story shows how close these people came to assassinating Hitler. It is a story told out of respect for those who attempted to free Germany and to show us that not every German soldier, not even high ranking officers and politicians in Germany, were loyal to Hitler and agreed with his ways.

Q

Where does the working title 'Rubicon' come from?

A

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