Perhaps Borgnine is not the very first name that would come to mind when casting a film about a Russian spy who is coerced into working as a double agent, yet here he is, enjoying his brief tenure as a leading man in the wake of his Oscar win for "Marty". He plays a Russian-born Hollywood film producer (inspired somewhat by a real life man who was in the music end of the film business) who has been goaded into passing on secrets to the Communists in order to save the lives of his father and brothers who remain in the USSR. He is discovered by young agent Corbett (here referred to as working for the CBI, but clearly meant to be the FBI) and is convinced to work both sides in order to avoid being executed for his crimes. This involves his flying to West Berlin and commuting between the free world and the Iron Curtain in an effort to uncover the latest Communist plot against the US. Meanwhile, his American cohort Matthews tries to ensure his safety and fellow red spies Prentiss and Dewhurst work on exposing him in order to save their own necks. The sometimes-pedestrian plot is amped up near the end by a tense arrest and escape attempt filmed amid the ruins of the Berlin border. Borgnine tries hard to convey his character's torment and untenable situation, but the fact remains that he is miscast. Matthews is nice-looking and gives a decent performance, but is fairly colorless. It's quite a shock to see slim, youngish Dewhurst, who is very different from the woman most people recognize from her later TV, stage and film work. She does well here, yet hadn't completely accumulated the throaty tones in her voice, which would later make her voice so distinctive. Joloff, who plays a Soviet leader, has his voice very obviously dubbed by Paul Frees. There's also a very annoying narrator who feels the need to dryly state the obvious. He is relieved occasionally by Borgnine, who should have been permitted to provide whatever narration was deemed necessary by the producers. The ridiculous spy training academy pictured in the film almost takes this into parody with obviously American people playing Russians trained to behave like Americans. (This idea was ripped off by "Mission: Impossible" in its first season.) Check out the VERY abbreviated swimwear on the German men in some of the stock footage used. Some dancing girls also appear in a nightclub and they seem to have on bottoms about a size or two too big and aren't exactly the most coordinated Terpsichoreans ever seen. There are a few decent sets and a couple of well-handled location shots, but the budget does appear to be low for this one. It winds up being a capable, but unremarkable, programmer with precious little to distinguish it.
Review of Man on a String
