Deux hommes dans Manhattan (1959)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville

Film Review

Jean-Pierre Melville was the French director who was most successful in transposing the American film noir genre to European cinema, and Deux hommes dans Manhattan is the film which shows its American roots most clearly.  The film is set in New York, the dialogue is half English, half French, and most of the cast (excluding the lead characters) are American actors.

But this is more than a straightforward homage to the genre which obsessed Melville and had the greatest impact on his film-making.  Melville somehow manages to capture the essence of American film noir and reassemble it almost as a work of art.

The film is so stylish and alluring, with its eternally melancholic jazz soundtrack and captivating nocturnal photography, that its weaknesses (threadbare plot, some weak characterisation) are scarcely noticeable.  Melville himself gives a charismatic performance as the lead character Moreau, whilst Pierre Grasset plays Delmas, a typical Melvillesque character, a hardened cynic of ambiguous morality who ultimately emerges as the most sympathetic character.

The film is sadly overlooked, and Melville himself he was disappointed with it, but it represents an important part in the director's oeuvre and ought to be regarded as a great film. It was on this foundation that Melville built his most acclaimed films, classic French gangster films that include Le Doulos (1962), Le Deuxième souffle (1966) and Le Samouraï (1967).

Film Synopsis

When Fèvre-Berthier, an important French diplomat, goes missing in New York, a French journalist, Moreau, is sent to investigate what became of him.  Moreau fails to learn anything of substance from the missing man's secretary and he ends up recruiting Delmas, an alcoholic press photographer who knows the city well enough to be his guide.  Their ensuing investigation takes the two men all over Manhattan.  None of the people who came into contact with Fèvre-Berthier has any idea what may have become of him.  Moreau's first tangible lead comes when an actress attempts to commit suicide shortly after he interviews her.  Visiting the recovering woman in hospital Delmas manages to extract the truth - the diplomat died at her home from a fatal heart attack.  Sure enough, the two men find the corpse in the girl's apartment and Delmas cannot resist taking a photograph of the dead man.  Moreau is disgusted by his partner's behaviour and insists that he hands over the film of his camera.  Delmas is careful to give him the wrong roll of film.  When the photographer goes off on his own, Moreau enlists the help of the diplomat's daughter in finding him.  They find him in a bar, completely drunk.  After a violent confrontation with Moreau Delmas throws away the film that could have made him a rich man.