Whom the Gods Love (1942)
December 5, 1942Release Date
Whom the Gods Love (1942)
December 5, 1942Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
Hans Holt
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Irene von Meyendorff
Luisa Weber Langer
Rosa Albach-Retty
Anna Maria Mozart
Winnie Markus
Konstanze Weber Mozart
Paul Hörbiger
Von Strack
Doris Hild
Actress
Curd Jürgens
Emperor Joseph II
Karl Hartl
Director
Details.
Release DateDecember 5, 1942
Original NameWen die Götter lieben
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 52m
Genres
Wiki.
Whom the Gods Love (German: Wen die Götter lieben) is a 1942 Austrian historical musical film directed by Karl Hartl and starring Hans Holt, Irene von Meyendorff, and Winnie Markus. The film is a biopic of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was made as a co-production between the giant German studio UFA and Wien-Film which had been set up following the German annexation of Austria. The film was part of a wider attempt by the Nazis to portray Mozart as an authentic German hero. Like many German biopics of the war years, it portrays the composer as a pioneering visionary.
The title refers to Mozart's middle name Amadeus (Latin for "love God") and to the aphorism "he whom the gods love, dies young" (Latin: "quem di diligunt, adolescens moritur") from Plautus' Bacchides, lines 816–17, and earlier Greek sources, including Homer's mention of Trophonius; Mozart died at the age of 35.
A British film of the same title had been released in 1936.