Bartleby (1970 film)

Bartleby is a 1970 British drama film directed by Anthony Friedman and starring Paul Scofield, John McEnery and Thorley Walters.^[1][2] It was written by Rodney Carr-Smith and Friedman adapted from the 1857 short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener; A Story of Wall-street" by Herman Melville. The film relocates the narrative from New York in the 1850s to London in the 1970s.^[3]

Bartleby
DVD Cover
Directed by	Anthony Friedman
Screenplay by	Rodney Carr-Smith Anthony Friedman
Based on	"Bartleby, the Scrivener; A Story of Wall-street" by Herman Melville
Produced by	Rodney Carr-Smith
Starring	Paul Scofield John McEnery Thorley Walters
Cinematography	Ian Wilson
Edited by	John S. Smith
Music by	Roger Webb
Production companies	Pantheon Film Productions Amber Entertainment
Distributed by	British Lion Film Corporation
Release date	18 November 1970 (1970-11-18) (London Film Festival)
Running time	78 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

Bartleby, a young audit clerk, is defeated by the pressures of modern life; he gradually opts out of all forms of social engagement and withdraws into his own world.

Cast

• Paul Scofield as the accountant
• John McEnery as Bartleby
• Thorley Walters as the colleague
• Colin Jeavons as Tucker
• Raymond Mason as landlord
• Charles Kinross as tenant
• Neville Barber as first client
• Robin Askwith as office boy
• Hope Jackman as Hilda, tealady
• John Watson as doctor
• Christine Dingle as patient
• Rosalind Elliot as Miss Brown, secretary
• Tony Parkin as Dickinson, clerk

Production

It was shot at Twickenham Studios and on location around London. The sets were designed by the art director Simon Holland.

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote:

Initially, as the camera leapfrogs around London establishing towering office blocks and scurrying commuters, while some fancy editing shows John McEnery glooming in the streets with his fruitless telephone calls in quest of a job continuing on the soundtrack, it looks as though Bartleby is going to rediscover swinging London all over again. Anchored by quiet, competent performances from Scofield and McEnery, the style gradually grows less queasy, but after the mannered generalisations of this opening (soulless London, heartless commerce), it comes as little surprise to find that the film is opportunistically – and none too delicately – hitching Melville's superb novella to the contemporary drop-out phenomenon.^[4]

Variety wrote:

This modestly-budgeted picture, written smoothly by Anthony Friedmann and Rodney Carr-Smith, from Herman Melville's story and directed by Friedmann, is downbeat. But it is intriguing because of the two main performances. Scofield, who radiates thought and integrity in every speech movement and gesture is fine. McEnery underplays the incomprehensible, pitiful Bartleby with just the right note to engender sympathy but not ridicule. The film is a riddle but it should intrigue any thoughtful filmgoer. It is directed with restraint by Friedmann and is cut sparsely by John C. Smith.^[5]

The TV Guide reviewer commented that "the film is brooding, slow, and annoying at times, but the vision of McEnery as Bartleby is not easily forgotten. Scofield...gives a supremely intelligent portrayal of a man caught between logic and emotion."^[6]

Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic called Bartleby "a poor film but with superb acting in it".^[7]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing: "Herman Melville's short story makes for a unremittingly downbeat yet fascinating movie, mainly due to the riveting interplay between its two stars. ... A mysterious, chilling allegory."^[8]