Man on a String

{{Infobox film

| name = Man on a String

| image = Man on a String.jpg

| caption = film poster

| director = André De Toth
(as Andre De Toth)

| producer = Louis de Rochemont

| screenplay = {{ubl|John Kafka|Virginia Shaler}}

| based_on = {{Based on|My Ten Years as a Counterspy|Boris Morros with Charles Samuels}}

| starring = {{ubl|Ernest Borgnine|Kerwin Mathews}}

| music = George Duning

| cinematography = {{ubl|Albert Benitz|Charles Lawton Jr.|Pierre Pioncarde|Gayne Rescher}}

| editing = Al Clark

| color_process = Black and white

| studio = RD-DR Productions

| distributor = Columbia Pictures

| released = {{film date|1960|5|20|}}

| runtime = 93 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Man on a String (also known as Confessions of a Counterspy) is a 1960 American spy thriller directed by Andre de Toth and starring Ernest Borgnine and Kerwin Mathews.{{Cite web |title=Man on a String |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150039091 |access-date=4 February 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}{{cite web|author=Eleanor Mannikka |url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/man-on-a-string-v101317 |title=Man on a String (1960) - André De Toth | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related |publisher=AllMovie |date= |accessdate=2016-11-01}} It was the last film that DeToth directed in the United States.

Plot

A government intelligence agency in Washington, D.C. wants agent Frank Sanford to follow Boris Mitrov, a film producer who appears to also be a Russian spy. Helen and Adrian Benson, a wealthy American couple with a home in Beverly Hills and a film studio, are communist sympathizers as well, in league with Colonel Vadja Kubelov, the top KGB man in the U.S.

Boris's office is bugged by his assistant, Bob Avery, a plant who is working for the Americans. Now that he has been caught red-handed, Boris is willing to turn double agent, going to Berlin under the pretense of making a documentary film there.

Helen is having an affair with Kubelov, but the Bensons' home has been bugged and they try to flee to Mexico. In the meantime, Boris is sent to Moscow to be entrusted with a new assignment, so Avery gives him a code word ("cinerama") to use should he find himself in danger.

Upon learning that Adrian intends to publicly expose Boris and Kubelov, Avery is able to alert Boris to return to Germany as soon as possible. A checkpoint is closed, but Boris shoots a police officer and escapes safely to West Berlin, only to end up in a fight for his life with a Russian assassin.

Cast

Ernest Borgnine as Boris Mitrov
Kerwin Mathews as Bob Avery
Colleen Dewhurst as Helen Benson
Alexander Scourby as Vadja Kubelov
Glenn Corbett as Frank Sanford
Vladimir Sokoloff as Papa
Friedrich Joloff as Nikolai Chapayev
Richard Kendrick as Inspector Jenkins
Ed Prentiss as Adrian Benson
Clete Roberts as Narrator

Reception

Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote: "The dialogue and characterizations in this picture cripple the putative truth of the message it intends to deliver. This Grade C melodrama may exist in life, but that is insufficient excuse for it in art."{{cite magazine| title=Stanley Kauffmann on films| url=https://newrepublic.com| publication-date=1960-05-30| magazine=The New Republic| language=en}}

Home media

Man on a String was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on March 4, 2011 via its DVD-on-demand system available through Amazon.{{Citation |last=Toth |first=Andre De |title=Man on a String |url=https://www.amazon.com/Man-String-Ernest-Borgnine/dp/B004CZZZ9A |access-date=2023-03-19 |language=English}}