The men who sought to fell their Fuhrer

There has been so much Sturm und Drang surrounding the making and selling of the upcoming feature film “Valkyrie” that the story of the attempt to assassinate Hitler is in danger of being overshadowed by more pressing questions like whether the film will save United Artists or what it will do to Tom Cruise’s asking price or why Kenneth Branagh seems to making a second career out of playing Nazis.

Fortunately, History is there to ensure that this does not happen. “Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler,” which airs tonight at 10 p.m., has a definite “Valkyrie” tie-in, including so many clips and behind-the-scenes moments that the term “marketing vehicle” does come to mind.

But it is also a thorough and thoroughly fascinating look at the men within the SS and German army who, appalled by the death camps and Hitler’s increasing monomania, sought to kill their Fuhrer even though it meant certain death for them.

The documentary clocks in at two hours, and it probably could have been half that had it confined itself to the actual conspiracy. Instead it takes us back to post-World War I Germany and Hitler’s rise to power. But the first half hour is a bit like Third Reich 101, though you can’t beat History for mind-blowing footage, imagery and interviews.

At the heart of the film, and the conspiracy, is a group of extraordinary men, including Ludwig Beck, Gen. Friedrich Fromm and Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, who never supported Hitler and who quickly realized he was psychotic. Played by Cruise in “Valkyrie,” Stauffenberg is the best known figure of the plot -- it was he who apparently first suggested that killing Hitler was the only way of stopping both the genocide and the increasingly desperate war. (He was also quite handsome and had a rather fabulous eye patch, which always helps a historical figure become memorable.)

Even casual students of the Holocaust have probably heard of Stauffenberg’s attempt to kill Hitler by placing a bomb at his feet during a secret meeting.

But as “Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler” makes clear, this was not the first attempt, and it was not carried out by a handful of men. There were dozens of disaffected German military members involved, and when the plot went awry, they were all arrested, many tortured, and most killed. The children of several of the conspirators describe the painful years before the men came to be seen as heroes, when they clung to the belief that what their fathers had done must have been right simply because their fathers had been good men.

A single moment from one of the conspirators’ trials alone makes “Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler” worth watching. Asked what he was thinking when he attempted treason against his beloved country, this man, who knows that many of his fellows have been slowly hung to death, looks his interrogator in the eye and answers: “I was thinking of all the murders.”

“Valkyrie” may be a terrific movie, but it’s going to have to go pretty far to beat that.

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mary.mcnamara@latimes.com

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‘Valkyrie:

The Plot to Kill Hitler’

Where: History

When: 10 tonight

Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)