Contre-espionnage

These sort of espionage stories are not favorites of mine unless done with a storyline that is not too convoluted, as is sometimes the case in these kind of spy thrillers. But if they're taut and suspenseful throughout, I can forgive too many complications. Fortunately, the cat-and-mouse game played here is understandable enough and crackles with suspense and tension.

MAN ON A STRING is a spy thriller based on the true-life adventures of a real counter-spy Boris Morros (dubbed Boris Mitrov here), played by ERNEST BORGNINE. While the plotting is far from simple, it's easy enough to enjoy the air of menace and danger that permeates the entire story without getting bogged down into the details of entrapment that always accompany these spy stories.

It moves at a brisk pace under the direction of Andre deToth (for awhile, he was a husband of Veronica Lake in the '40s), and all of it is filmed on locations in East and West Germany. KERWIN MATTHEWS is Borgnine's fellow spy assigned to guide him through the various activities, COLLEEN DEWHURST does well in her second film after a couple of TV roles, and GLENN CORBETT is excellent as a government agent.

It's rather talky for the first hour and then builds to a tense climax among the deserted buildings of East Germany when Mitrov's activities become known to the Russians, which leads to a shootout scene that caps the ending in a satisfying and suspenseful way.

Borgnine gives a solid performance and the film itself is well worth watching.

There's a narration that gives it an almost documentary approach, somewhat like another film produced by Louis De Rochemont, THE HOUSE ON 92nd STREET.

Summing up: Crisp, exciting spy thriller.

Well, that's not an authentic red scare period film, as were BIG JIM MC LAIN, INVASION USA, WHIP HAND, and so many US propaganda films that spread during the fifties. It speaks of the war between Western authorities and Behind the iron Curtain forces, the "evil" ones, but in a smart, sensitive, and brilliant way. It is purely espionage, spy scheme, as there were so many in the sixties, and even after. Ernest Borgnine is excellent in this ambivalent role, for whom the audiences of this era, who were more used to be on the good American side, for once, could feel a bit discomfortable with such an unusual lead character. Solid Andre De Toth directing.

Had no idea if I was going to enjoy this film from 1960, but I had a good idea that Ernest Borgniine, ( Boris Mitrov) would put his heart and soul into his role and he did just that through out the entire film. This was a true story concerning a man who was called Borris Morras, and in this picture was called Boris Mitrov a double agent between the United States and Russia during the Cold War Era. Boris Mitrov is a successful Hollywood producer who was born in Russia and got himself involved with Russian Spys who were willing to bring his father and brothers back from Russia to his home in Los Angeles. However, Boris Mitrov is being watched by our Government Agents and they decided to enlist Boris to become a double agent for the United States in order to be cleared of the charges for espionage against the U.S. There is plenty of suspense and this story takes many twists and turns.

I saw also directed by André De Toth "The Mongols" (1961)I mongoli (original title) with the one and only Jack Palance, a movie I liked when I was a teenager. Here in "Man on a String" we have the one and only Ernest Borgnine, another excellent actor, who delighted me in many films, especially in "Emperor of the North" (1973), with the great Lee Marvin, "The Wild Bunch" (1969), "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1979). I've seen him also in the excellent "Marty" (1955), with which he won the Oscar. Here he plays another complex role, in fact, a double role... All the other actors are very good, Kerwin Mathews probably in his best role, Colleen Dewhurst, very good too, etc. all of them. Just watch and judge for yourself!

"Man on a String" stars the great Ernest Borgnine ("The Wild Bunch") as Boris Mitrov, a character inspired by the real-life Borris Morros. Boris is a Russian-born American citizen running a film studio who is essentially blackmailed into becoming a counter-spy. This will see him travel to both Berlin and Moscow to gather information for the amusingly dubbed "C. B. I." (the "Central Bureau of Intelligence"!).

"Man on a String" is largely notable for taking a documentary-style approach, complete with narration, by both Clete Roberts ("The Swinger") and Borgnine himself. The Roberts narration mostly tells us things we can already see for ourselves, while Borgnines' voice-over is more interesting as he observes the progress of his homeland and its citizens decades later. Overall, the film is generally entertaining, although it's largely dialogue and performance driven, only working in some action and suspense during the finale. But this finale is quite good, as we see the unarmed Boris running for his life and we wonder *how* he can possibly get out of a life-or-death situation.

Borgnine is thoroughly engaging here, and is ably supported by fantasy star Kerwin Mathews ("The 7th Voyage of Sinbad") here wearing a suit and tie as Boris' "assistant" at the studio. The excellent supporting cast also includes Colleen Dewhurst ("The Dead Zone"), Alexander Scourby ("The Big Heat"), Glenn Corbett ("Chisum"), Russian-born character actor Vladimir Sokoloff ("The Magnificent Seven"), who's endearing as Boris' father, and Ed Prentiss ('Trackdown').

Partly working as a travelogue, the globe-hopping also helps to make this espionage thriller decent entertainment, and in fact the film employed four different cinematographers for its four main settings. The efficient direction is courtesy of Hungarian-born Andre De Toth, who made his mark as a filmmaker with such efforts as the original "House of Wax" and the film noir classic "Crime Wave".

Seven out of 10.