The ken russell collection the great composers dual format editionthree films by ken russell a dual format edition collection bringing together the career defining work of ken russell at the bbc. Russell's work during the sixties for award winning arts documentary series monitor and omnibus were critically acclaimed and often seen as a high point in his filmmaking. The first of the three films, elgar 1962, portrays in vigorous style the life of the english composer sir edward elgar, with huw wheldon narrating his life story over beautiful mountain scenery. The debussy film 1965, russell's penultimate film for monitor was an ambitious work about the composer's life, written by melvyn bragg and starring oliver reed as claude debussy. Song of summer 1968 is generally regarded not least by its director as russell's best television film with many critics citing it as his finest work in any medium. The story traces eric fenby and is based on his memoirs of trying to help the blind and paralysed composer frederick delius. The films in this collection have been remastered to high definition, and are presented on blu ray for the very first time special features presented in both high definition and standard definition michael bradsell interview 2015, 10 mins the film editor talks about working with ken russell land of hope and glory 1931, 3 mins footage of sir edward elgar conducting the lso at the opening of the new hmv studios now abbey road studios elgar and the three choirs festival harold brooke, 1929 1932, 9 mins amateur footage of elgar at home and at the three choirs festival ken russell and michael kennedy audio commentary for elgar 2002 newly commissioned commentary by kevin flanagan for the debussy film ken russell audio commentary for song of summer 2002 illustrated booklet featuring new essays by kevin flanagan, john hill, john c tibbetts, paul sutton and michael brooke, and full credits uk 1962 1968 black and white english language, with optional hard of hearing subtitles 211 minutes original aspect ratio 1.331 1 x bd50 1080, 50i, lpcm 2.0 audio 48khz 16 bit 2 x dvd9 x 2 pal, 25fps, dolby digital 2.0 audio 320kbps running time 211 minutes region region 2 release date 28 mar. 2016