#Veidt & Lorre: Dynamisches Duo

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Peter Lorre & Conrad Veidt = Aziraphale & Crowley

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"Unaussprechliche Omen"

aka "Ineffable Omens," a not-real precursor to "Good Omens"! (updated)

Here's the earlier variant with "Unerfindlich Omen," or "Ineffable Omen" (just one!), based on the translation for "ineffable" in the German version of "Good Omens," or so I saw.

This post was inspired by Michael Sheen being what I call a "Peter Lorre actor" - able to put every thing he needs to say into his eyes and face. (David Tennant can too, I was just fixated on Michael.)

Peter Lorre vs Michael Sheen - watch those eyes:

(More longing gazes here, GO2 spoilers.)

Not to leave out our chiseled & fluidly angular boys! Conrad Veidt vs David Tennant:

So just imagine. . .

Peter Lorre as Aziraphale

Thousands of expressions chasing themselves across his face and amazing eyes, ability to evoke the ethereal, and romance, and comedy, and chills, understated yet can go from calm to thunderingly intense in a flash--

Conrad Veidt as Crowley

Lanky and watchful and also so, so intense, mercurial and sinuous and devoted, sensual and suggestive and androgynous in all the irresistible come-hither ways--

And it doesn't hurt that both men are freaking gorgeous:

Both could easily take on any guise or disguise through the ages:

As well as any mood or machination:

They both love reading, so the bookshop is a going concern:

Indeed, it's almost a crime that we can't make this happen, to catch the light and sorrow and hope in Lorre's eyes once more:

And rekindle the compelling sin of Veidt just waiting to ignite:

Because whatever the era, our Dynamisches Duo will save the world - and the universe!

(Above pic taken from "All Through the Night.")

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Here's Peter Lorre as Bildreporter "Foto-Jonny" in F.P.1 antwortet nicht (1932), otherwise known as F.P.1 Doesn't Answer or F.P.1 Doesn't Respond.

This post will also prove why we need a Conrad Veidt & Peter Lorre Accidental Crime-Fighters Team -

Veidt & Lorre: Dynamisches Duo!

"Conrad Veidt and Peter Lorre en route to Oie Island." -Source

I love Veidt's hand on Lorre's shoulder. More inside scoop on the movie & the friendship behind the cut:

First: What's all this F.P.1 business? F.P. is a floating platform set in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There's a love triangle in this movie, too. Here's more from The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre:

"Based on Kurt Siodmak’s novel, it tells the story of a courageous flyer who prevents the destruction of a mid-Atlantic refueling point for transoceanic flights. Hans Albers would play the lead...but who would lighten what Reisch described as 'a heavy science fiction drama?'

"'Since the hero had a sidekick,' director Karl Hartl suggested, 'Why don’t we write the part of the little newspaper photographer so that Peter can play it?'

"And so they did, tailoring the role to better fit his talents.

"'Peter was very happy to get a part in which he could show his sense of humor, in which he could bring out laughs to get a different note from that monster, the child killer.'"

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Shaved bald for his role in Der weisse Damon, Peter wore a wig!

If you get this film, just make sure you're getting the version you want - Hartl had to direct German, French, and English-language versions at the same time, so three versions exist:

The German-language version is the one with Peter Lorre, and Hans Albers as the lead, Ellissen.

The French-language version has Charles Boyer playing Ellissen.

The English-language version has Conrad Veidt playing Ellissen.

Peter Lorre is neither in the French nor English versions, but:

"Hartl shot all three versions simultaneously on Greifswälder Oie, a small island in the Baltic, where a full-scale 'floating platform' was built. For three months, cast and crew, including pioneer German producer Erich Pommer, shared the only hotel on the nearby island of Rügen. There Lorre met Veidt, an actor who, like himself, was capable of switching on and off his demonic personality. Reisch recalled that Veidt 'always died with laughter at whatever Peter Lorre did.'" -The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre

Cast and crew travel to Oie Island by Söhren-Rügen to make English, French and German film versions of Kurt Siodmak’s F.P.1. antwortet nicht. Number 1 is Hans Albers. Number 2 is Conrad Veidt (who starred in the English version). Peter Lorre, in hat, is number 3, standing in front of Veidt. -Source

Here's Peter with Hans Albers.

"Intelligent and resourceful, Lorre’s Johnny is a devoted sidekick to Albers’s hero, who affectionately teases him with a string of descriptive nicknames, including Rollmöpschen (pickle with herring wrapped around it), Rollfilm, and alter Affe (old ape)." - The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre

Back to behind the scenes, and the Veidt & Lorre proposal:

"After the sun set at five-thirty, everyone returned to the hotel for dinner, where one man 'provided more fun than anybody else in the whole star roster,' said Reisch. 'That was Peter. He could tell the most incredible stories with little nuances, hardly changing his face, just touching upon it and bringing the house down.'

"'It was inconceivable after working hours to have an evening without Peter. It would have been gloomy. He had an enormous sense of humor and was the happiest man on earth when people laughed.'

"After dinner, there was only one diversion—Ping-Pong. Much to everyone’s amusement, the six-foot-five Veidt and the five-foot-five Lorre paired up.

"'And these two guys, the one who played ‘Caligari’ and the other one who played the mass murderer in M became a team in Ping-Pong that was unbeatable,' said Reisch. 'It was not just if we win tonight, it was a matter of life and death to win the tournament. Not for the money, but there was a gala reception afterwards and a medal. And these guys played together like a team, with beautiful timing.'" - The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre

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And this is why I'd read or watch a series of Veidt & Lorre, jokesters, pranksters, Ping-Pongsters, and, despite their best attempts to keep leading a life of joviality, ending up as accidental crime-fighters because they're just that good at divining human nature. These next pics are of Conrad Veidt & Peter Lorre in All Through the Night - but taken out of context, they work!

Conrad Veidt & Peter Lorre

And look at them all relaxed in this awesome behind-the-scenes pic on the set of All Through the Night (with Humphrey Bogart, Kaaren Verne, and director Vincent Sherman).

Here's another, albeit smaller behind the scenes image (I really thought I had a higher-res or a larger version). I love how they're facing each other and seem so comfortable with each other.