A true auteur in the real sense, Melville wrote, directed and edited everyone of his films. Also a real independent filmmaker, Melville financed and built his own studio. The film about two French newspaper reporters searching for a missing United Nations diplomat turned out to be a disappointment. Melville's story was not very interesting and he had a serious tin ear when it came to getting decent performances out of his American actors.
The on location filming in New York had a nice documentary look to it, but the film was spoiled by an obnoxious jazz score which sounded like a parody. Melville himself played one of the two reporters and wasn't too bad, unfortunately every time he jumped into a car to check out the next clue the music blasted out on the soundtrack to alert the viewer something was about to happen. A good filmmaker but apparently a real character. Melville was known for wearing sunglasses and a trench coat which made him look like a movie detective. Melville was also known for wearing a cowboy hat while directing to add to his aura of quirkiness.
Melville knew he had failed with this film. After taking a couple of years off to rethink his approach to filmmaking, Jean-Pierre Melville came back with a series of impressive crime films.
85 minutes.
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