At the Mercy of Men

{{short description|1918 film}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = At the Mercy of Men | image = At the Mercy of Men (1918) - 2.jpg | alt = | caption = Trade advertisement | native_name =  | director = Charles Miller | producer = | writer = Paul West | screenplay = | story = | based_on = | starring = {{plainlist| *Alice Brady *Frank Morgan *Jack W. Johnston *Robert Walker }} | narrator = | music = | cinematography = Harold Young | editing = | studio = Select Pictures | distributor = | released = {{Film date|1918|04|20|ref1=<ref name=afi>{{cite web|work=AFI Catalog of Feature Films|location=Los Angeles|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/14798-AT-THE-MERCY-OF-MEN?cxt=filmography|publisher=American Film Institute|title=At the Mercy of Men|archive-url=https://archive.today/20181123230005/https://catalog.afi.com/Film/14798-AT-THE-MERCY-OF-MEN?cxt=filmography|archive-date=November 23, 2018|access-date=November 23, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> }} | runtime = 5 reels | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) | budget = | gross = }}

'''''At the Mercy of Men''''' is a 1918 American silent drama film<ref>{{cite book|title=Radicalism in American Silent Films, 1909–1929: A Filmography and History|page=222|last=Shull|first=Michael Slade|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-1-476-61103-7|year=2014}}</ref> directed by Charles Miller and starring Alice Brady.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Dramatic Mirror of Motion Pictures and the Stage|page=632|volume=78|year=1918|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9e1DAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA632|title=At the Mercy of Men|via=Google Books}}</ref> Its plot follows a young woman during the Russian Revolution who seeks to find the identity of her attack by a Royal Guard.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Three Select Pictures Await Release|page=809|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gwxKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA809|journal=Motography|volume=19|issue=1–26|date=April 27, 1918|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Plot== During the Russian Revolution in Petrograd, Vera Souroff, a young Russian music teacher, is accosted on the street and dragged into a room where three men of the Royal Guard are dining. The lights are turned out, and she is sexually assaulted. The crime is brought to the attention of the Czar by the Countess Zaptine, a patroness of Vera, but Vera is unable to determine which man assaulted her as the crime took place in the dark.

In response, the Czar orders Count Nicho, the eldest of the officers, to marry Vera, and also mandates that each of them turn over all of their wealth and fortunes to her. After doing so, the men are sent to prison. Vera attempts to save Nicho and get him to confess the name of her aggressor. Now genuinely in love with her, Nicho admits that it was he, and the two embrace one another.

==Cast== *Alice Brady as Vera Souroff *Frank Morgan as Count Nicho *Jack W. Johnston as Boris Sitofsky (credited as Jack Johnson) *Robert Walker as Count Andreas *C. Porches as Count Michael *Helen Lindroth as Mme. Souroff *W.C. Carleton as Maj. Souroff *Yolande Duquette as Countess Zaptine (credited as Yolande Buquette) *Tula Belle as Alice

==Critical response== Maude Meagher of ''The San Francisco Chronicle'' felt that the film was "gorgeous enough."<ref>{{cite news|work=The San Francisco Chronicle|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25648972/san_francisco_chronicle/|author=Meagher, Maude|date=November 18, 2018|page=2|title=Relatives and Sweethearts' Film Proves Big Attraction|via=Newspapers.com|location=San Francisco, California}} {{open access}}</ref> A critic of the ''Rapid City Journal'' described the film as a "timely photodrama...  in these days of topsy-turvy adjustment, political and social."<ref>{{cite news|work=Rapid City Journal|location=Rapid City, South Dakota|title=Great Russian Play|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25649029/rapid_city_journal/|date=August 17, 1919|via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref> The ''Austin American-Statesman'' noted that director Miller "has a keen eye for strong dramatic effects," also praising the cinematography and performance by Brady.<ref>{{cite news|work=Austin American-Statesman|date=August 17, 1918|page=3|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25649118/austin_americanstatesman/|via=Newspapers.com|location=Austin, Texas|title=Alice Brady in "At the Mercy of Men"}} {{open access}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== {{commons category|At the Mercy of Men}} *{{IMDb title|tt0008851}}

Category:American silent drama films Category:American silent feature films Category:Films about rape Category:Films set in Saint Petersburg Category:Russian Revolution films Category:1918 drama films Category:1918 films Category:Selznick Pictures films Category:Films directed by Charles Miller Category:1918 American films Category:1918 English-language films Category:English-language drama films