Whom the Gods Love (1942 film)

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