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Two Men in Manhattan

Two Men in Manhattan (Deux Hommes dans Manhattan)

Movie · 1959 · 9 people

Jean-Pierre Melville not only scripted and directed the 1959 French film noir Two Men in Manhattan but also cast himself in the lead; its original title is Deux hommes dans Manhattan. Alongside Pierre Grasset he plays one of a pair of reporters from France working in New York. Known in Germany as Zwei Männer in Manhattan, the film was released on 16 October 1959. It is spoken in French and English and runs about 84 minutes.

The story starts when a French diplomat attached to the United Nations goes missing. The two journalists set out to trace him and spend a night moving through the streets of Manhattan; the search leads to uncomfortable truths about the missing man's private life and forces them to choose between a sensational story and their conscience. The cast includes Melville and Grasset along with Jean-Pierre Darras, Art Simmons, Billy Kearns, Jean Darcante, Jean Lara and Martial Solal.

The film is a small exception in Melville's career. He occasionally took bit parts in other directors' films, most famously Parvulesco in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 Breathless. But Two Men in Manhattan is his only starring role and the only one of his own films in which he acted, apart from the off-screen narration he provided for Bob le flambeur (1956).

DirectorJean-Pierre Melville

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Cast

Only cast members with a profile on this site are listed.

Jean-Pierre Melville Jean-Pierre Melville Actor · died at 55 Jean-Pierre Darras Jean-Pierre Darras Film actor · died at 71 Pierre Grasset Art Simmons Billy Kearns Jean Darcante Jean Lara Martial Solal Paula Dehelly

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Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

What makes Two Men in Manhattan most interesting is that it is the only one of his own films in which Melville takes the lead. With the director playing the reporter, the gap between story and storyteller narrows, and the film becomes almost a personal look at New York. The search squeezed into a single night fits the classic shape of film noir, adding new pieces about the missing diplomat's life as it goes. Still, admirers of Melville's better-known crime films should not expect the same sharpness here. To me it is less a major work than an intriguing stopover in his career, and its value lies mostly in seeing Melville in front of the camera, inside a world he built himself.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film's central question still feels current: when a sensational story clashes with conscience, what should a journalist choose? Making the missing man a diplomat attached to the United Nations puts the spotlight on how far a public figure's private life can become news. Telling it through two French reporters working in New York matters too; Manhattan is at once a metropolis seen through foreign eyes and the hub of post-war international diplomacy. For anyone thinking about press ethics and privacy, it remains a film worth discussing.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

A missing diplomat, a search that lasts all night, the streets of Manhattan: on paper it is a perfect thriller setup. But as I see it, the engine here is not a chase but the moral dilemma the reporters face. If you are after shootouts and big set pieces, the pace may feel too calm. If you like noir mood and stories that unfold in a single night, you will find what you came for.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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