Song of Summer

Song of Summer
Christopher Gable, left, as Eric Fenby and Max Adrian as Frederick Delius
Directed by	Ken Russell
Screenplay by	Ken Russell Eric Fenby
Based on	Delius As I Knew Him by Eric Fenby
Produced by	Ken Russell
Starring	Christopher Gable Max Adrian Maureen Pryor David Collings
Cinematography	Dick Bush
Edited by	Roger Crittenden
Music by	Frederick Delius Eric Fenby
Production company	BBC
Distributed by	BBC
Release date	1968 (1968)
Running time	72 minutes (DVD)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Song of Summer is a 1968 black-and-white television film co-written, produced, and directed by Ken Russell for the BBC's Omnibus series which was first broadcast on 15 September 1968.^[1] It portrays the final six years of Frederick Delius' life, during which Eric Fenby lived with the composer and his wife Jelka as Delius's amanuensis. The title is borrowed from the Delius tone poem A Song of Summer, which is heard along with other Delius works on the film's soundtrack.

It stars Max Adrian as Delius, Christopher Gable as Fenby, and Maureen Pryor as Jelka, with director Russell in a cameo role as a philandering priest. The cinematography was by Dick Bush, and the editing was by Roger Crittenden. It was shot on black-and-white 35mm film.^[2]

It has received wide praise since its first screening, and Ken Russell said it was the best film he ever made and he would not have done a single shot differently.^[3]