The Veil

This was a 1958 TV Series which I seemed to have missed and I must say the so-called Five(5) Spine Tingling Episodes: "Vision of Crime", "Girl On the Road","Jack The Ripper", "Summer Heat",'and" Return of Madam" were big disappointments. In some of these Episodes, Boris Karloff gives some minor performances which definitely spark your interest by his facial expressions and faces of evil which he so greatly performed for many many years. It is quite clear that having Karloff hosts these brief stories, it caused people to take an interest in viewing them on TV. In one of the stories, George Hamilton was very young and had a very brief role to perform. This is still a Classic film made in 1958 and ten years later, Boris Karloff passed away to the Higher Stage in the real Spiritual World.

This gem of a TV movie has the Boris Karloff stamp all over it and together with usual atmospheric lighting and production bestowed upon a British TV thriller it makes for compelling viewing. It is nice to see that after a long and successful film career in the US that Mr Karloff decided to return to the land of his birth and make not only this film, but also others like 'Curse Of The Crimson Altar' which were shown on the big screen in the late Sixties and which are now shown regularly in Britain on television.

His performance in 'The Veil' is up to his usual standard. What is particularly interesting is the many characters he plays in this film. He tackles them all - the weird, the wise and the perfectly normal. Robert Hardy too should get a mention for an early performance which showed the promise of what was to come in British television. By the way the year is either 1963 or 1964. I used to know but cannot be sure, now.

Any Night Gallery fan will find this earlier prototype enjoyable. To see Boris Karloff at this stage in his career is reason enough to buy this. The openings are fantastic with a room size fire place in the background. It blazes around a menacing Karloff in the openings. Even though b and w it has better production values than most series of that era. The acting is top notch and the cast is superior to most anthology series. It's too bad the studio who produced this did not do well financially, or it would have been an instant classic in TV history. How wonderful it is that the vaults kept this unseen treasure safe for viewing in the 21st century.

Just saw all 10 black and white episodes of The Veil, just out on Platinum Disc Corp (2004) double DVD set. I don't know why the company apologies on each DVD for the picture and sound quality -- both are perfect. The Veil was never shown on TV due to, as the text on the box states, studio financial problems. It's too bad. The production values, acting, and stories are at the level of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Night Gallery. Each "spine-tingling" story deals with the paranormal, many based on real facts; messages from beyond the grave, psychic premonitions, supernatural phenomena, and surprise endings! In each episode we get to see veteran actor/host Boris Karloff in a range of roles, including a doctor, lawyer, even chief of police. The Veil does not suffer from "monster of the week" plots, which were the boom and bust of The Outer Limits and The X-Files. No unexpected explosions, no car chases, no chainsaws either. In fact, The Veil is a good example of writing for TV, albeit in 30-minute format.

It sometimes boggles the mind to think of all the great finds Something Weird Video has unearthed in the past years. To date they've educated me in H.G. Lewis, Fredric Hobbs, William Grefe, Jack Weis, Doris Wishman, and Leonard Kirtman! But in the year of 1998-99 I was blown away when they discovered two un-aired television shows hosted by horror's classic (and best) genre stars; THE VEIL, hosted by Boris Karloff, and 13 DEMON STREET, hosted by Lon Chaney. Boris Karloff hosts a series of ten episodes of a horror series entitled `THE VEIL' from in front of a crackling fireplace in an illustrious castle room, filled with books and curiously macabre statues. Karloff plays his narrator as a somewhat curious man, who insists that all the tales he tells (stories he's `researched') are all true.

`Vision of Crime' is an interesting supernatural tale, though not very energetic. `Girl on the Road' begins like a Hitchcock crime-thriller, but ends on an almost William Castle-esque note. `Food on the Table' shows off Karloff's never-dulling acting skills, and achieves some pretty effective chills in its end. `The Doctors' is more of a moralistic story, and not so much horror. `The Crystal Ball' is entertaining, and has some cool imagery. `Genesis' has intriguing characters, a good plot, and some chilling imagery. `Destination Nightmare' is a bit too sentimental, and has very little horror imagery.

Also, `Destination' features Karloff narrating from a different room than his signature castle; a very 60's decorated library-looking room, complete with a map of the world for Karloff to stand in front of.

`Summer Heat' is simply a psychic crime-mystery with no horror in it at all. `The Return fo Madame Vernoy' is arguably the series' worst entry, being talkative and slow moving with next to no horror to place it in the series. And, finally, `Jack the Ripper' is a worthy entry, though the discriminating viewer might hunger for more of Jack the Ripper in the piece, instead of the irritating psychic who chases him. The `Ripper' segment also has an odd format change where Karloff hosts with a scattered opening segment, an interlude in the middle of the episode, and then a conclusion.

SWV's DVD presentation of THE VEIL is perfect! However, between the two horror series they've unearthed I would have to say that to my horror movie aesthetic 13 DEMON STREET is a bit better. Although THE VEIL is good, some of the episodes drag, and some are quite anti-climactical and disappointing, whereas I've never seen a 13 DEMON STREET I didn't enjoy.

Probably the reason for THE VEIL's fancy treatment, over 13 DEMON STREET's modest video release, is due to the psychological nature of the horror in THE VEIL over the more supernatural horror of DEMON STREET, which is more centered on ghouls, ghosts and demons.

Although I prefer 13 DEMON STREET (of which two episodes appear on the VEIL DVD) to THE VEIL, it is still a masterfully done series, with the wonderful Karloff as the master of ceremonies and occasional star. The ominously over-decorated room from which Karloff narrates, in front of his Dante-esque fire, never fails to creep