Comments on: ‘Valkyrie’ – Germany without Germans

By: prose

prose — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:33:25 +0000

Hey, if they let go of European actors, then that’s fine, actually a plus point for me. I don’t see why Americans should be so scurpulous of European mores, when the Euros don’t even return the favour. When Britishers make American movies, they don’t cast American actors. Apart from a rare Hugh Laurie, they don’t even try to fake an American accent( eg: All the King’s Men). Americans should repay the favour by casting only Americans in any movie set in Europe.

By: cftoto

cftoto — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:35:19 +0000

Brian — great comments. Those insights help bring the film into better focus.

By: Brian Swisher

Brian Swisher — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:45:24 +0000

IIRR, there was a production decision to eschew German accents (except, of course, for Thomas Kretschmer, who is German…and, it seemed to me, that the voiceover in German when Stauffenberg is writing in his diary, was done by a different actor…when Cruise’s voiceover in English took over, the voice and a rather different timbre…

I reread the chapter on the July 20 plot in Shirer’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich when I got home…plotwise, the fimmakers hewed pretty close to the course of events, making necessary simplifications to keep the story filmable…they left out the complex negotiations between the plotters and von Kluge and Rommel, for instance…and they allowed the plotters more temporary success with their coup than actually happened…but they showed how quickly things fell apart once it was learned Hitler survived the blast.

All in all, though, the writing didn’t get across the kind of magnetic personality and erudition possessed by Stauffenberg, and a number of very close calls that the plotters had in the run-up to July 20, which would have heightened the tension level. I feel that it’s worth a watch, but it’s not a film I would own.

By: Jim Lakely

Jim Lakely — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:49:49 +0000

My fuzzy memory recalls Tom Cruise doing his “Tom Cruise intense drama accent” in the TV trailers.

You’re right. A German accent ain’t so hard. But Tom Cruise is such an established American movie star, that it would be distracting to hear him attempting a German accent throughout the movie. It’s just different for Hollywood SuperStars. I don’t get distracted when Cate Blanchette or Tom Wilkinson do accents — probably because it’s so easy (apparently) for British/Australian actors to affect an American accent in their performances (see Laurie, Hugh: House). I even get distracted watching Meryl Streep do her accent shtick. I know she’s American. I can enjoy her performance just fine as she is. (The only exception is minor Hollywood stars doing British accents. That’s the only non-distracting accent.) For the record, my wife (at my side as I write this, disagrees. She says: “You’re a professional actor. Do the proper accent. I for one would want to see an American do an accent of another language.”)

By the way, Tom Cruise now owns United Artists, so he can do whatever he wants.

By: cftoto

cftoto — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:36:07 +0000

My fuzzy memory recalls “Valkyrie” trailers with Cruise attempting an accent … but in the film he doesn’t even try. Which is ok … just odd in the grand scheme of things. Is a German accent so hard? Isn’t he a professional actor?

By: Jim Lakely

Jim Lakely — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:10:09 +0000

So, does Tom Cruise’s on for a second, off for the remainder of the movie accent enter the Pantheon of such silliness — defined by Kevin Costner in “Robin Hood: Prince of Theves,” or Halle Berry’s hilarious abandonment of a Jamaican/African accent in “X-Men”?

Isn’t it better of HUGE American movie stars just be themselves and ditch the accent pose? We go to see Tom Cruise because he’s Tom Cruise and expect him to be him (except in his excellent turn in Tropic Thunder). Right?