The Veil

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Audience Member love this series and boris karloff's introduction. great late night viewing. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member THE VEIL (1958) is claimed by critics as the "Greatest T.V series never seen" due the fact the company that was producing this series when bankrupt in the middle of the shows production. The result only ten or eleven episodes of the show only made and no T.V network brought the rights to broadcast this unique series. But thanks to home video the series is only just getting an audience or in this case a cult audience amongst old T.V show collectors. The series is an anthology horror-suspense series based upon real life accounts of Physic and supernatural phenomena which was hosted by Boris Karloff who would both present and star in each episode of the series. For this review I will rate and review each episode of the "greatest T.V series never seen". Now please note there was no broadcast order due to the series never been shown on T.V, the order I'm going by is the episode track list on my DVD copy staring with.... 1. DESTINATION NIGHTMARE In each episode the host of the show (the horror film legend Boris Karloff) starting each episode with this simple phrases "tonight I'm Going to tell you another strange and usual story of the unexplainable which lies behind The Veil ". The story of this episode involves a pilot called Pete J.R flying for his father's airline delivery company in Europe. One day Pete in the middle of a flight sees a vision of an unknown figure that somehow hypnotises him and nearly makes him crash his plane. Before too long the mysterious man somehow has a link to Pete's father Pete S.R (Karloff) which will only end up bring painful memories of the past for the father and son. The acting aside from Karloff's performance is rather touch and go but still holds the viewers attention. RATING FOR THIS EPISODE: 60%. 2. GIRL IN THE ROAD The plot of this episode involves a business man called John Prescott helping a girl in need on the side of a highway, he then drives her into town and takes her to a bar where he gets to know better where she reviles her name to be Lilia . However she starts to act suspicious when the local bartender calls someone Morgan Debbs. Later John meets up with Lilia upon a local lookout point were Morgan Debbs (Karloff) shows up to warn John to stay away from Lilia. John then decides to get to the bottom of the whole affair only to find out some very weird is taking place. The acting in this episode is decent while Karloff shows why he is a horror legend, overall a great episode .RATING FOR THIS EPISODE: 70 %. 3. JACK THE RIPPER That's right they made an episode about Jack the Ripper, well sort set in the middle of the Ripper killing spree. The Plot In This Episode; Victorian gentleman called Walter has a nightmare of a viscous killing of a woman unknown to him and sees all details of the crime site, which is odd because it happens in a location in which he has never been to before. The next day it turns out he had a vision of the latest Jack the ripper killing and for the rest of the story he has more and more visions of the ripper's ghastly acts of murder. This episode is really heavy in atmosphere and with some chilling dialogue it makes this one of the most creepiest episodes of this series, note Karloff only stars in the hosts role and not as one of the characters in the story. RATING FOR THIS EPISODE: 90% 4. VISIONS OF CRIME Plot In This Episode; Another era piece set in the late 19th century; a man called George on a ship to France sees a vision of his bothers murder in his wash basin. When he returns to England it turns out his vision was true only to find out an innocent man has been arrested for the murder. Acting in this one is wooden and this episode has no atmosphere unlike the JACK THE RIPPER episode. The story is highly imaginative and Karloff playing the role of an idiot police sergeant is just a right laugh to see. RATING FOR THIS EPISODE: 60% 5. THE CRYSTAL BALL Plot In This Episode; Another episode set in the late 19th century in Paris, France; Edmond a writer is given a crystal ball by his ex-lover who is getting married to his publisher. When the publisher leaves for a tour of Europe Edmond starts to see his ex-lover in the ball and discovers she is having an affair. But can he really prove to the publisher that what he sees in the ball is really true? The acting in this episode is decent, scripting is highly imaginative, and Karloff plays the role of Edmonds uncle with a rather tacky fake French accent (along with the rest of the cast). RATING FOR THIS EPISODE 70% 6. THE DOCTORS Plot In This Episode; set in a small Italian village, Karloff plays an elderly doctor dedicated to his people. His son a young doctor asks his father to retire but his father refuses. On the same night the father is off attending a patient when a young man asks the son to see to his sick sister. When the parents of the sick girl find out the doctors son is going to aided their daughter, they refuse to allow any help until the father comes. Naturally he comes and the son is lucky to help the sick girl, sounds like an average soap opera plot outline but the last twist at end is highly original almost near worthy for THE TWIGLIGHT ZONE. The acting is rather wooden in this episode, while there is a little atmosphere this episodes brilliant plotline saves it. RATING FOR THIS EPISODE 70% 7. THE RETURN OF MADAME VERNOY Plot in This Episode; Set in India during World War 2 a young Indian Maiden, her mother and her friend travel to a professor in a university. The Veil twist the young maiden claims to the professors dead wife who died over 20 years ago, which happens to be the age of the young maiden. The acting is ok, Karloff is brilliant in his role as always in this episode but that imaginative plot is just brilliant. RATING FOR THIS EPISODE 80% 8. SUMMER HEAT Plot in this episode; in the middle of the New York summer, a man see across into an apartment across from his. He witnesses a brutal killing of a young blonde woman by a burglar, when the man gets the police and when the group enter the apartment it turns out the apartment were the murder took place has been empty for a long time. The man is then sent to a mental hospital were Karloff's character is the head doctor who analyses the man, and proves him to be sane. Meanwhile the blonde woman the man saw shows up in the apartment and becomes a resident, the twist has the man seen into the future and can he warn the woman of the looming danger? The acting is decent again but again the plot for this episode is just stunning and highly original. RATING FOR THIS EPISODE, another 80% 9. FOOD ON THE TABLE Plot in this episode; set some time in the 19th century a greedy ship's Captain (Karloff) treats his wife unfairly , so much so She makes a scene by pulling food off the table in the local pub were the captain drinks. After saving her life after a snake bite, the captain regrets his actions after he discovers a wealthy widow has inherited a large fortune. On his next voyage he brings his wife along and poisons her at sea, a few weeks later at a celebratory dinner an unknown supernatural force becomes an unwelcome guest at the dinner. The acting is decent again but the plot for this episode is just an obvious ghost story, but Karloff as the main character is just brilliant as he keeps this story ticking along. RATING FOR THIS EPISODE, 60% And finally 10. GENESIS Plot in this episode; two brothers are at war over the family farm after two wills left by their father causes friction. The older brother wants to keep the farm for him and his mother while the younger brother wants to sell the farm for his own financial benefit. The only peacemakers in this fight are the court of law and since this is The Veil, the spirit of the father of the two brothers. The acting is decent and a bit more 3-D at points as for the plot for this episode it's just stunning and highly original blending a supernatural tale with a court room drama as well. RATING FOR THIS EPISODE, 70% Overall thoughts on The Veil: although most DVD copies of this show claim this to be the greatest television series never seen, although that is a stretch nether the lest that could be true due the fact THE TWIGLIGHT ZONE premiered the following year and ran for five seasons, while The Veil had all of the ingredients (like famous horror star Boris Karloff hosting the series) to become a successful T.V show the production was halted at the ten episode mark when the studio went bankrupt in 1958 . When no station would pick up this series due there only being ten episodes and by the following year THE TWIGLIGHT ZONE and one or two other anthology series had debut, The Veil went on into obscurity until recently when it most likely fell into the public domain DVD companies could disturbed on DVD from companies like (as pictured) SOMETHING WERID VIDEO or in the case of my DVD copy of this series. My copy of The Veil came apart of the set box titled the Heroes Of Horror Collection with a bunch of public domain Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff films ranging from everything like the brilliant WHITE ZOMBIE [1932] to utter sludge like BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORLLIA [1952], Roger Corman's THE TERROR [1963] and ILSE OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE [1971]. The Veil to my knowledge is probably is the greatest T.V series that was never screened on T.V, See this series if you love the original TWILIGHT ZONE and are curious to see the possible rival of that series the was left to rot in the film canisters . My overall rating for the series as a whole, 70% Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Veil

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