Valkyrie. It's that rare movie which, without even having been released, has already managed to break free from its celluloid constraints to become a genuine state of mind. ("How you feeling?" "Oh, a little Valkyrieish, you?" "Same.") We all know the story by now: Odd flight of historical fancy by Nazi-obsessed director Bryan Singer; Tom Cruise signs on, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Col. Shtuffel Von Klingenhauser, the movie's famed Hitler-hunter; mishaps and flatulence follow, Nazis are injured and sue; and its studio crumbles amid a round of musical release dates. But through it all, has anyone actually seen this thing? According to E! Online, top secret testing is currently underway at an undisclosed location somewhere in Nevada known only as Area Einundfünfzig—and what they are learning there is nothing short of astonishing:

Valkyrie, Cruise's upcoming flick about the real-life failed attempt by high-ranking German officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler, has been screen-tested for regular ol' moviegoers in Nevada, I'm hearing.

The audiences weren't aware of what they would be seeing because they had been blindly solicited to attend a free movie at their local multiplex. I'm told most of the audiences were really diggin' the flick. "They liked it," a source says. "Most people said it was a suspense thriller."

Indeed, 7 out of 10 Valkyrie viewers rated the film as "as good or better than Babylon A.D.," though a majority of comment cards also found themselves disappointed by the less-than-uplifting ending, in which a captured Tom Cruise is fed to the Führer's sows as punishment for his treasonous crimes. Look for a much more upbeat and high-octane climax when the film finally hits theaters this Christmas. [Photo credit: MGM]