Even though most viewers of “Valkyrie” realize that Adolf Hitler was NOT assassinated by rebellious German army officers on June 20, 1944, the film directed by Bryan Singer still offers plenty of suspense and intrigue.

Starring Tom Cruise as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, along with a terrific cast of British actors, including Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp, Bill Nighy and Eddie Izzard, the movie skillfully tells the story of the most serious attempt to overthrow the Nazi regime from the inside.
“Valkyrie” was released on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment in single disc ($29.98), two-disc Special Edition ($34.98) and Blu-ray ($39.98) versions. The latter two versions come with some excellent special features that detail the historical significance of the plot against Hitler, the heroism of Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators and the efforts made by Singer and his cast and crew to, as producer/co-screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie puts it in one of the DVD commentaries, “capture the spirit of the resistance.”
In another commentary featuring Singer, Cruise and McQuarrie, the “difficulties” the filmmakers had in securing permission from the German government to shoot in the actual settings in Berlin where the events depicted took place are discussed. Yet, as an example of the limitations of some DVD commentaries, one of the major contributing factors in the German government’s initial opposition has been left out of the discussion — Cruise’s identification with the religion of Scientology.
— Scripps Howard