Bartleby *** (1970, Paul Scofield, John McEnery, Thorley Walters) – Classic Movie Review 10,391

Co-writer/ director Anthony Friedman’s 1970 British drama Bartleby offers a rare opportunity to see Paul Scofield on film as The Accountant, the sympathetic boss of a young accounting clerk called Bartleby (John McEnery) who rebels against his employer and refuses to leave a job after he is fired and starts cracking up.

Bartleby is a worthy, well-cast, well-acted movie, given an enduring contemporary relevance, as it is updated to 1970 London. But Herman Melville’s downbeat literary tale does not have many laughs nor too much charm, and neither does it sit very easily on the screen, and arguably the film would have worked better in its original setting of the 1850s. These are Victorian characters in Victorian situations, despite their universal meanings.

Also in the cast are Thorley Walters as The Colleague, Colin Jeavons as Tucker, Raymond Mason as Landlord, Charles Kinross as Tenant, Neville Barber as First Client, and the 20-year-old Robin Askwith as Office Boy, with Hope Jackman as Hilda the Tealady, John Watson as Doctor, Christine Dingle as Patient, Rosalind Elliot as Miss Brown the Secretary and Tony Parkin as Dickinson the Clerk.

The film’s producer Rodney Carr-Smith and Anthony Friedman adapt Melville’s short story Bartleby, the Scrivener; A Story of Wall-street, set in New York in the 1850s.

Co-operation is gratefully acknowledged to British Petroleum (BP), British Rail, London Transport and the Post Office.

It is shot at Twickenham Studios on sets designed by art director Simon Holland, and on location around London.

Academy Award, Emmy and Tony winner Scofield made just under 20 films in a six-decade acting career.

Bartleby is directed by Anthony Friedman, runs 78 minutes, is made by Pantheon Film Productions, is released by British Lion Film Corporation (1971) (UK) and Maron Films (1972) (US), is written by Anthony Friedman and Rodney Carr-Smith, based on Herman Melville’s short story Bartleby, the Scrivener; A Story of Wall-street, is shot in Eastmancolor by Ian Wilson, is produced by Rodney Carr-Smith, is scored by Roger Webb, and designed by Simon Holland.

It was premiered at the London Film Festival on 18 November 1970.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,391

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