| Whom the Gods Love | |
| Director: | Karl Hartl |
| Producer: | Karl Hartl |
| Starring: | Hans Holt Irene von Meyendorff Winnie Markus Paul Hörbiger |
| Cinematography: | Günther Anders |
| Editing: | Henny Brünsch Karl Hartl |
| Studio: | Wien-Film |
| Distributor: | UFA |
| Runtime: | 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.[1] 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: "") 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.