*****May contain spoilers******May contain spoilers****** *****Does contain spoilers******Does contain spoilers****** Best to Go get a copy of the film NOW before reading any more Bartleby reviews.

It has taken nearly 35 years to finally find out the identity of this haunting, mesmerising classic. I can remember seeing this film in the early 1970's on British TV on a B/W TV not yet even in my teens. Never been able to forget it since. It has haunted me. I have only ever seen it the once. The blackness of this film has attached itself to my inner-core ever since.

The film as I recall portrays a sad slow decline into debilitating Mental Illness and Infirmity, set initially in a lively functioning office workplace. It is a very disturbing film, portraying the slow death of a man. With nobody, really noticing or caring much about 'Bartleby's' problem, until it was too late. (The Manager did show some interest towards the end, no doubt due to some kind of loyalty or guilt).

His office staff colleagues were of course shocked and disturbed by his increasingly incredible behaviour. Wanting him to be out of their environment for convenience sake. Not knowing how to deal with him. Not knowing how to deal with death.

A classic film, in the same off beat genre as "Abigails Party" Et-Al. Though never receiving the same widespread recognition. This film is as bleak, cold and heavy as it gets whilst still being a drama.

It may only be available on DVD Region one though at present. So unless it turns up on the TV sometime, all those outside of North America may never get to see it. If you ever do, I'd turn the colour down to B/W to get the full effect.

Thinking about it, I started a 35 year spell of depression around the same time as I viewed THAT film. To be honest, just lately, I feel I'm going the same way as Bartleby did.

(This review updated 22/12/2009).

Unlike other reviewers I haven't read the book and can't comment on its success as an adaptation.

The story is very, VERY basic. A mysterious young man, Bartleby (John McEnery) applies successfully for the position of audit clerk at a small accountancy firm in London.

At first he works well but doesn't socialise at all with any of his colleagues. Things start to slip when the Accountant (the fabulous Paul Scofield) asks him to do a task and Bartleby replies 'I would prefer not to.' This becomes Bartleby's response to every request from now on and the Accountant becomes increasingly exasperated with his new employee. Instead of dismissing him, the well-meaning accountant shares Bartleby's work amongst his colleagues and hopes to get to the bottom of the problem.

In allowing him to stay, the Accountant sees Bartleby's behaviour become more bizarre as he takes up residence in the office.

Even after dismissing Bartleby, the Accountant is unable to get rid of him and he re-locates the firm to a new office in the hope of getting away from this curious young man.

If The Accountant felt he would have heard the last of Bartleby by this stage, he is sadly mistaken.

A story like this could result in an extremely dull film but the inventive direction from Anthony Friedman (why hasn't he done any other films?) and Scofield's superb performance prevent this from happening.

Scofield is one of the more enigmatic figures in cinema history. Primarily a stage actor, and a highly distinguished one, he has made relatively few feature films, less than 20 in fact.

However his limited filmography has not stopped him from winning an impressive array of screen awards including the Best Actor Oscar and three BAFTA's.

It is very typical of Scofield that, having already won the Oscar, he turned down the Robert Mitchum role in Ryan's Daughter (a part he was better suited for than Mitchum) and opted to do a tiny little film like Bartleby.

Although McEnery is very good in the film, he has fairly little to do and it is Scofield who carries the picture. His portrayal of a kindly yet increasingly bemused employer is excellent and the delivery of his lines e.g.

'You're living here; you're ACTUALLY living in my office!' is superb and adds the humour needed to make this film succeed.

I can't imagine this film getting any kind of publicity when it was first shown, no premiere at Leicester Square and subsequent nationwide release. In many ways it resembles the American Film Theatre productions of the 1970's but with a little more cinematic flair.

Its difficult to see how this film could be expected to turn a profit and although there have been 3 subsequent film adaptations of Melville's story, I doubt very much that movies of this style and small ambition would be given the go-ahead nowadays.

But I'm glad that Bartleby was made and that it is now available on DVD (but not yet in the UK),it's an amusing little curio that deserves to be better known.

A dry and deadpan tragicomedy of nihilism based on a novella by Herman Meville. BARTLEBY demonstrates what happens when, "I would prefer not to", becomes the answer to every action and reaction. A similar motif is also found in the more profound film, VAGABOND, by Agnes Varda. These works seem to critique the capitalist economic model without proposing the usual socialist reply, but offer up something more akin to complete non- acceptance. Although Anthony Friedman, director of BARTLEBY, has chosen a significantly different storyline from that of Melville (the film is set in late 1960's London),the tale does encapsulate his theme of the dehumanization of the modern workplace and presents a whimsical, yet unwise response.