Two Men in Manhattan [Blu-ray]

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville Jean-Pierre Melville

Overview

The primary protagonists in this routine drama are two French journalists, Delmas (Pierre Grasset) and Moreau (Jean-Pierre Melville, the director), and also the city of New York at night. The two journalists are on the trail of a story -- a French diplomat has disappeared from the U.N. for no apparent reason. As they wander through the city tracking down the reason for the disappearance, the journalists eventually discover that the diplomat has met with foul play. Now the two men have a serious disagreement. Delmas wants to take photos of what happened and use them to create sensational headlines and plenty of attention, but Moreau wants them both to cover up what they have found and bury what they know. Given the setting for this tale, both English and French are spoken throughout the film.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/17/2013
UPC:	0741952756392
Original Release:	1959
Rating:	NR
Source:	Cohen Media Group
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:25:00
Sales rank:	26,529

Special Features

A conversation between critics Jonathan Rosenbaum and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky; New essay by Melville scholar Ginette Vincedeau; Trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Pierre Grasset	Delmas
Jean-Pierre Melville	Moreau
Michèle Bailly	Actor
Jean Darcante	Actor
Christiane Eudes	Actor
Ginger Hall	Actor
Monique Hennessy	Actor
Jean Lara	Actor
Jerry Mengo	Actor
Christian Chevalier	Composer

Technical Credits

Jean-Pierre Melville

Jean-Pierre Melville

Director,Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

In Deux Hommes Dans Manhattan, as in most of the work of the singular French director Jean-Pierre Melville, it's difficult to live a moral life. "Moral," of course, is defined differently by different characters in different situations; here, it is presented rather blatantly as the choice presented the two journalists, to tell the truth about a murder or to create a lie. But, though they each choose the latter, one of them wants to create a lie that will bring personal gain, the other a lie that will preserve a reputation and be for the "public good." What they cannot fully acknowledge is that choosing to lie, even for a supposedly good cause, compromises them morally, and this is what Melville is getting at: life inevitably calls for moral compromise, but this compromise creates and sustains a sense of melancholy that cannot be shaken. It's a destructive situation, but subtly so. This is what is at the heart of Hommes, underneath all of the standard-issue detective story trappings, and it's what really interests Melville. Unfortunately, the director isn't able to articulate this as strongly as is needed, and it doesn't meld with the straightforward story that is being told and thus ends up weakening the film. It's filled with all the visual strengths and attention to detail that one expects of Melville, but it fails to add up to a perfectly satisfying whole.