Cohen Media Group has detailed the Cohen Film Collection release of French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville's
Two Men in Manhattan (
Deux hommes dans Manhattan), starring Melville and Pierre Grasset. The rarely seen, shot-in-New York 1959 crime thriller has been fully remastered for its Blu-ray debut and arrives on September 17th.
Official Synopsis: The dark shadows of New York come to life in
Two Men in Manhattan when a French UN delegate disappears into thin air, sending reporter Moreau (Melville) and hard-drinking photographer Delmas (Pierre Grasset) on an ethically fraught mission to find him. Their only lead is a picture of three women. Set against a smoky jazz score and featuring stunning black-and-white cinematography by Nicolas Hayer (
Le Corbeau, Le Doulos) that beautifully captures the gritty streets at night, this is director Melville's love letter to New York City and homage to American film noir.
Revered by both critics and filmmakers, Melville was called "the coolest, most stylish auteur of his time" by action master John Woo, while Quentin Tarantino said, "Jean-Pierre Melville is to the crime film what Sergio Leone is to the Western." Melville's moody dramas, including
Bob le Flambeur, Le Doulos, Le Samourai and
Army of Shadows, were deeply influenced by classic Hollywood crime pictures, making iconic use of cigarette-smoking, world-weary gangsters and detectives in trenchcoats and fedora hats. His minimalist style, including shooting on real locations rather than in studios, was a major influence on the next generation of filmmakers that would create the New Wave.
The Blu-ray release of
Two Men in Manhattan features 1080p video, a French LPCM 2.0 uncompressed audio track (with English subtitles), and the following extras:
- Conversation between critics Jonathan Rosenbaum and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
- New essay by Melville scholar Ginette Vincendeau
- Trailers