Two Men in Manhattan

Melville's film shot in New York, in which he also acts. When a French delegate to the United Nations disappears, a news agency assigns two men: the journalist Moreau and Delmas, an alcoholic photographer. They follow the man's trail through the night, and it leads them to women's apartments, to clubs, to a theatre and finally to a body. The real subject is not the missing man but the difference between the two journalists: Moreau wants to report it correctly and Delmas wants to sell the photograph that will bring the most money. The dead man's reputation and his family are caught in that negotiation. Melville filmed New York with the means he had; night streets, neon signs and empty avenues are his actual material. Those images also prepare the visual language of his later crime films. Melville plays Moreau himself. A valuable early work for anyone who loves Melville, noir and the night city. Against his mature period, though, the script is weak and the performances uneven; the film stands mainly on its atmosphere.