Whom the Gods Love (1942 film)

For the 1936 British film, see Whom the Gods Love (1936 film).

Whom the Gods Love
Directed by	Karl Hartl
Written by	Richard Billinger (novel) E. Strzygowski (novel) Eduard von Borsody
Produced by	Karl Hartl
Starring	Hans Holt Irene von Meyendorff Winnie Markus Paul Hörbiger
Cinematography	Günther Anders
Edited by	Henny Brünsch Karl Hartl
Production company	Wien-Film
Distributed by	UFA
Release date	5 December 1942
Running time	111 minutes
Country	Austria (Part of Greater Germany)
Language	German

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.

Cast

• Hans Holt as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Irene von Meyendorff as Luisa Weber Langer
• Winnie Markus as Konstanze Weber Mozart
• Paul Hörbiger as Von Strack
• Walter Janssen as Leopold Mozart
• Rosa Albach-Retty as Frau Mozart
• Annie Rosar as Frau Weber
• René Deltgen as Ludwig van Beethoven
• Thea Weis as Sophie Weber
• Susi Witt as Josepha Weber
• Curd Jürgens as Emperor Joseph II
• Hans Siebert as Duke of Mannheim
• Richard Eybner as Baron von Gemmingen
• Fritz Imhoff as Albrechtsberger
• Karl Blühm as Hoeffer
• Erich Nikowitz as Süssmayr
• Doris Hild
• Georg Lorenz
• Pepi Glöckner-Kramer
• Franz Herterich
• Otto Schmöle
• Theodor Danegger
• Alfred Neugebauer
• Ferdinand Mayerhofer
• Willi Hufnagel
• Hermann Erhardt
• Louise Kartousch
• Erna Berger as Singer
• Siegmund Roth as Singer
• Karl Schmitt-Walter as Singer
• Dagmar Söderquist as Singer

Bibliography

• Hake, Sabine. Popular Cinema of the Third Reich. University of Texas Press, 2001.

External links

• Whom the Gods Love at IMDb