Whom the Gods Love (1942)

Original title

Wen die Götter lieben

Directed by

Karl Hartl

Genre

drama film, biographical film

Country

Germany, Austria

Runtime

1h 51m

Rating

8.3 of 10 from 3 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This film is a biography of the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It shows his life and music, and it was made to present him as a German hero. The title references his middle name and the idea that those the gods love die young.

reverentmelancholicbiographicalpatriotichistoricalclassicaldramaticsomber

What happens

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 (also about Mozart) had been released in 1936. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• The Mozart Story (1948)
• A Little Night Music (1939)
• Mozart: A Childhood Chronicle (1976)
• La Symphonie fantastique (1942)
• Immortal Waltz (1939)
• Friedemann Bach (1941)
• Unfinished Symphony (1934)
• The Pianist (2002)