---
name: "Thea von Harbou"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/thea-von-harbou"
fi1m_id: "thea-von-harbou"
imdb_id: "nm0902376"
tmdb_id: 157
wikidata_id: "Q58866"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "19 December 1888"
died: "1 July 1954"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 86
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-25T05:47:48.696985+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Thea von Harbou

## Identity

Thea von Harbou

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/thea-von-harbou
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** thea-von-harbou
- **IMDb ID:** nm0902376
- **TMDB ID:** 157
- **Wikidata ID:** Q58866
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thea_von_Harbou, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q58866, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0902376/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/157

Writer. Born 19 December 1888 in Tauperlitz, Germany. Died 1 July 1954.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 19 December 1888, Tauperlitz, Germany
- **Died:** 1 July 1954
- **Active:** 1922–1931
- **Also known as:** Thea Gabriele von Harbou
- **Frequently works with:** [Fritz Lang](https://film.one/person/fritz-lang.md), [Alfred Abel](https://film.one/person/alfred-abel.md), [Erich Pommer](https://film.one/person/erich-pommer.md), [Rudolf Klein-Rogge](https://film.one/person/rudolf-klein-rogge.md), [Theodor Loos](https://film.one/person/theodor-loos.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 86, as writer, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1920s 82 (2), 1930s 94 (1)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Crime 2, Drama 2, Thriller 2, Science Fiction 1
- **Screen time:** 9 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $1m across 2 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thea_von_Harbou, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q58866, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0902376/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/157

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*M*](https://film.one/film/m.md) (94)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*Metropolis*](https://film.one/film/metropolis.md) (87)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Thea Gabriele von Harbou was a German screenwriter, novelist, film director and actress. Born in Tauperlitz, Bavaria, in 1888, she trained at the Luisenstift school in Dresden and began her career as an actress on the stage in Düsseldorf, Weimar, Chemnitz and Aachen before concentrating on writing from around 1914.

She is best known for writing the 1925 novel *Metropolis* and its 1927 screenplay adaptation, both for the film directed by Fritz Lang, to whom she was married from 1922 until their divorce in 1933. She also wrote the screenplay for *M* (1931) and collaborated with Lang on several other films, including *Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler* (1922) and *Die Nibelungen* (1924). Many of her screenplays originated as novels.

Von Harbou remained in Germany after 1933 and continued to write for film and publish novels until her death in West Berlin in 1954.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, filmportal.de.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *M* (1931), Fi1m 94, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/m.md)
- *Metropolis* (1927), Fi1m 87, Novel, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/metropolis.md)
- *Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler* (1922), Fi1m 77, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/dr-mabuse-the-gambler.md)

## Complete filmography (59)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *M the Damned* (1982), Original Film Writer
- *Journey to the Lost City* (1960), Novel, Screenplay
- *The Indian Tomb* (1959), Novel
- *The Tiger of Eschnapur* (1959), Novel
- *Dein Herz ist meine Heimat* (1953), Writer
- *M* (1951), Original Story
- *Journey to Happiness* (1948), Writer
- *Via Mala* (1945), Screenplay
- *Das Leben geht weiter* (1945), Novel
- *The Genius and the Nightingale* (1943), Story, Screenplay
- *Annelie* (1941), Screenplay
- *Wie konntest Du, Veronika!* (1940), Writer
- *Hurra, ich bin Papa* (1939), Writer
- *Menschen vom Varieté* (1939), Writer
- *The Stars of Variety Show* (1939), Screenplay
- *Covered Tracks* (1938), Screenplay
- *Die Frau am Scheidewege* (1938), Screenplay
- *Youth* (1938), Writer
- *Le Tigre du Bengale* (1938), Novel
- *The Indian Tomb* (1938), Novel
- *The Tiger of Eschnapur* (1938), Novel
- *Mother Song* (1937), Story, Screenplay
- *The Broken Jug* (1937), Screenplay
- *Versprich mir nichts!* (1937), Writer
- *The Sovereign* (1937), Screenplay
- *Die unmögliche Frau* (1936), Writer
- *I Was Jack Mortimer* (1935), Writer
- *An Ideal Husband* (1935), Writer
- *Turandot, princesse de Chine* (1935), Writer
- *The Old and The Young King* (1935), Writer
- *Prinzessin Turandot* (1934), Screenplay
- *What Am I Without You* (1934), Writer
- *The Assumption of Hannele* (1934), Writer, Director
- *Elisabeth and the Jester* (1934), Director, Writer
- *The Testament of Dr. Mabuse* (1933), Screenplay
- *The child's first right* (1932), Screenplay
- *M* (1931), Screenplay — Fi1m 94, [page](https://film.one/film/m.md)
- *Woman in the Moon* (1929), Screenplay, Novel
- *Spies* (1928), Novel, Screenplay
- *Metropolis* (1927), Screenplay, Novel — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/metropolis.md)
- *The Chronicles of the Gray House* (1925), Writer
- *Michael* (1924), Adaptation, Screenplay
- *Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge* (1924), Screenplay
- *Die Nibelungen: Siegfried* (1924), Screenplay
- *The Finances of the Grand Duke* (1924), Writer
- *The Expulsion* (1923), Writer
- *Die Prinzessin Suwarin* (1923), Screenplay
- *The Stone Rider* (1923), Idea
- *Phantom* (1922), Adaptation, Writer
- *Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler* (1922), Screenplay — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/dr-mabuse-the-gambler.md)
- *The Burning Soil* (1922), Writer
- *The Indian Tomb, Part II: The Tiger of Eschnapur* (1921), Novel, Writer
- *The Indian Tomb, Part I: The Mission of the Yoghi* (1921), Writer, Novel
- *Destiny* (1921), Writer
- *Der Leidensweg der Inge Krafft* (1921), Story
- *Four Around the Woman* (1921), Screenplay
- *Die Frauen vom Gnadenstein* (1921), Screenplay
- *The Wandering Image* (1920), Writer
- *Die Legende von der heiligen Simplicia* (1920), Writer

## Gallery

- ![Thea von Harbou](https://film.one/media/person/103461/gallery-c48390db97d6.jpg) Thea von Harbou — Becker & Maass / Marie Boehm, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Thea_von_Harbou_B%26M.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Fritz Lang, Filmregisseur und Thea von Harbou, Autorin; Berlin Schmargendorf, Hohenzollerndamm 52, Arbeits- und Billardzimmer mit Bibliothek (1924)](https://film.one/media/person/103461/gallery-a1284308307e.jpg) Fritz Lang, Filmregisseur und Thea von Harbou, Autorin; Berlin Schmargendorf, Hohenzollerndamm 52, Arbeits- und Billardzimmer mit Bibliothek (1924) — Waldemar Franz Hermann Titzenthaler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Berlin-Schmargendorf%2C_Hohenzollerndamm_52%2C_Arbeits-_und_Billardzimmer_mit_Bibliothek.jpg/1280px-Berlin-Schmargendorf%2C_Hohenzollerndamm_52%2C_Arbeits-_und_Billardzimmer_mit_Bibliothek.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Fritz Lang, Filmregisseur und Thea von Harbou, Autorin; Berlin Schmargendorf, Hohenzollerndamm 52, Speisezimmer (1924)](https://film.one/media/person/103461/gallery-e79e09e31a0e.jpg) Fritz Lang, Filmregisseur und Thea von Harbou, Autorin; Berlin Schmargendorf, Hohenzollerndamm 52, Speisezimmer (1924) — Waldemar Franz Hermann Titzenthaler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/Berlin-Schmargendorf%2C_Hohenzollerndamm_52%2C_Speisezimmer.jpg/1280px-Berlin-Schmargendorf%2C_Hohenzollerndamm_52%2C_Speisezimmer.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Fritz Lang, Filmregisseur und Thea von Harbou, Autorin; Berlin Schmargendorf, Hohenzollerndamm 52, Arbeits- und Billardzimmer mit Bibliothek (Die Dame 1923/1924](https://film.one/media/person/103461/gallery-03d4df702c40.jpg) Fritz Lang, Filmregisseur und Thea von Harbou, Autorin; Berlin Schmargendorf, Hohenzollerndamm 52, Arbeits- und Billardzimmer mit Bibliothek (Die Dame 1923/1924 — Waldemar Franz Hermann Titzenthaler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/Berlin-Schmargendorf%2C_Hohenzolllerndamm_52%2C_Arbeits-_und_Billardzimmer_mit_Bibliothek.jpg/1280px-Berlin-Schmargendorf%2C_Hohenzolllerndamm_52%2C_Arbeits-_und_Billardzimmer_mit_Bibliothek.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Film script for Metropolis by Thea von Harbou from Frame By Frame exhibition about film restoration on display at the Museum of Film and Television Berlin, Deut (2021)](https://film.one/media/person/103461/gallery-89b07c6c6cc4.jpg) Film script for Metropolis by Thea von Harbou from Frame By Frame exhibition about film restoration on display at the Museum of Film and Television Berlin, Deut (2021) — SunOfErat, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Filmmuseum_Berlin_-_Frame_By_Frame_-_Metropolis_Script.jpg/1280px-Filmmuseum_Berlin_-_Frame_By_Frame_-_Metropolis_Script.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Thea von Harbou (1924)](https://film.one/media/person/103461/gallery-f605bc4bb9cd.jpg) Thea von Harbou (1924) — Waldemar Franz Hermann Titzenthaler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Fritz_Lang_und_Thea_von_Harbou%2C_1923_od._1924.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/thea-von-harbou