Trial by Fire 

A chronological look at the events that occurred during the world wars. An assassin's bullet sparks a global conflict that quickly evolves into the deadliest war humanity has ever seen. In ... See full summary »

Director:

John Ealer

Writers:

Chelsea Coates, Randy Counsman

Stars:

Mike Adler, Tom Vickers, Michael Almy

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Mike Adler	...	Hitlers cook / Dpelganger
Tom Vickers	...	Young Churchill
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Almy	...	Hitler Thug / Union Official #3 / French Soldier / Dough Boy / U.S. Soldier / German Soldier
Gary Ayash	...	WWII German Industrialist
Jimmy Bacon	...	President Wilson's Aide (as James Bacon)
Judd Bankert	...	Woodrow Wilson
Joseph Scott Barbarino	...	Joseph Stalin
James William Barker	...	Prime Minister Chamberlain's Aid
Daniel Martin Berkey	...	Douglas MacArthur
Ian Beyts	...	Winston Churchill
David Mitchum Brown	...	Harry S. Truman
C. Conrad Cady	...	Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
Ben Church	...	British POW
Robyn A. Cole	...	US WWI Soldier / Hitler's Butler
Chris Condetti	...	German party member

Storyline

A chronological look at the events that occurred during the world wars. An assassin's bullet sparks a global conflict that quickly evolves into the deadliest war humanity has ever seen. In the chaos, a new generation of soldier emerges, including a group of men who would become the most infamous leaders of the 20th century.

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Plot Keywords:

gun | 

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Genres:

Documentary | History | War

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Certificate:

TV-14

Did You Know?

Goofs

Young Mussolini is portrayed with a full beard and mustache. As a young man, he wore a mustache but no beard.

User Reviews

The start of a great series

When I first heard of this series I wasn't sure I wanted to see it as I'm personally more interested in WW2 and not very much WW1 history.

So far it's actually more about WW2. It only goes into WW1 a bit to touch on the progression of events and key figures that have a big role in WW2 such as Hitler (obviously), also Patton, MacArthur, Winston Churchill, etc., in a compelling chronological format.

The dramatic documentary is very well produced with high production value and quality, and the reenactments are well done too.

Have to take a point off however for the blunder of having the episode start off with Barack Obama stoically reading some speech off a teleprompter talking about the importance of the wars, etc. A spit in the face to the people that actually fought and died for freedom from a sociopathic politician that is actively plotting and trying to take freedom away (from USA citizens). To compare him with a leader that actually had some backbone like Churchill is shameful and ludicrous. Was this supposed to be some sort of irony to compare one socialist (Hitler) to the modern one? Makes me question if the writers of this story really understood how Germany's war came about at a deep enough level. Just fast forward through the first 50 seconds and pretend it never happened.

At any rate if you are a WW2 fan, or otherwise a person who likes to study war and the politics behind it then you will like the episode.

Details

Release Date:

26 May 2014 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stephen David Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min