Delius - Song of Summer (PAL Region 2)

Perhaps the finest of the series of biographical films that Ken Russell made for the BBC in the Sixties, Song of Summer is an immensely moving story of sacrifice, idealism, and musical genius. Based on Eric Fenby’s 1936 memoir Delius As I Knew Him, it traces the last years of Frederick Delius, and Fenby’s dedication in giving up five years of his life to help the blind, paralysed composer set down the unfinished scores he could hear in his head. There are terrific performances from Max Adrian as the monstrous, tyrannical, tormented Delius, Maureen Pryor as his devoted, long-suffering wife, Jelka, and Christopher Gable (remarkably, in his first screen acting role) as the shy, intense, talented young composer thrust into this strange household.