A French UN delegate has disappeared into thin air, sending two Frenchmen, reporter Moreau and hard drinking photographer Delmas, on an assignment to find him in Manhattan. Through compromising photographs, clandestine meetings and blackmail, three women reconstruct the figure of the missing person.

Paying homage to the city of New York after dark—its burlesque halls, neon signs, and smokey jazz bars—Jean-Pierre Melville marries B-movie grit with his trademark existentialism in this sketchy moral tale. An overlooked gem that marked the French auteur’s one and only leading role appearance.