The Veil (1958)

"The Veil" was a TV series from 1958 that predated the similarly-themed "One Step Beyond," hosted by John Newland. It presented stories based on real-life psychic occurrences, and was hosted by and starred Boris Karloff in each episode, who started each episode sitting framed by a roaring fire (a subtle visual suggestion of the infernal, perhaps), after which he would grace each episode (save for one) with his unique presence; although to be honest, here he sometimes seems as if his acting is on auto-pilot. However, his unique aura still shines through in episodes such as "The Doctors," and "Food on the Table."

"The Veil" lasted a scant TWELVE episodes before being shelved by Hal Roach Studios for some unspecified reason. One episode, a little thing from England produced as a one-shot over there, was bought and aired as a final episode over here. In that episode, "Jack the Ripper," (which was, believe it or not, about Jack the Ripper), we learn that Gentle Jack was apprehended by the dreams of a psychic, and that apparently he tortured dogs with hat pins and dipped bats in paraffin and set them on fire; which we wouldn't think of as out-of-character at all. There's a twist ending, but we won't give it away of course, as considerate as we are.

Favorite line: "Doctor, is it a terrible thing to hope that there will be more murders in Whitechapel?" (I also like the part where the maid or whatever describes burning bats flying around Jack's head. Great stuff.)

The Veil (TV-1958) JACK THE RIPPER (Ep 10) Boris Karloff

Earlier episodes featured really absorbing stories such as "Food on the Table," wherein Boris plays a sea captain in a horrible wig who poisons his wife. Amazingly, the food on the banquet table at his favorite pub keeps getting pulled off by invisible hands. (All of these stories seem vaguely familiar, as if you've read them in the crumbling pages of old ghost and paranormal books, although they have of course been dramatized here.)

"Vision of Crime" (Episode 1) presents a story of a psychic vision of murder, wherein Boris portrays an egoistical British police constable, and "The Girl on the Road" (Episode 2) gives us a mysterious young woman in a broken-down car, one who tempts a young man to investigate and discover a shocking secret about her.

The Veil (TV-1958) VISION OF CRIME (Ep 1) Boris Karloff

The Veil (TV-1958) GIRL ON THE ROAD (Ep 2) Boris Karloff

Other episodes such as "The Doctors" (Episode 4) present us with Boris as a kindly Italian (!) doctor with a curiously cultivated British accent, taking a mysterious journey outside the body, and "The Crystal Ball," (Episode 5) in which he brags about his "little black book" in a bad imitation French accent to a man with a crystal ball who can see his cheating wife in turn cheat on the man she left him for (this guy has tolerance a mile long and seven leagues deep).

Why this show was canned is anyone's guess, but it joined "One Step" and later "Twilight Zone" and Boris' follow-up series "Thriller' as supremely excellent anthology programs; albeit "The Veil" is based on the real-life lore of the haunted and uncanny.

Boris went on of course to host the aforementioned "Thriller," which he merely presented in the best tradition of a TV horror host, holding forth a cavalcade of largely Robert Bloch-penned horrors, many of them simple Hitchcockian murder and suspense yarns, but a few of them supernatural fantasies. That show mixed real-life gruesome fear with the fantasies of Bloch, August Derleth, and other famous writers of the era.

You can easily watch ALL of the episodes of "The Veil," and if you get the time to do so, we think you should. It has a simple, arcane poetry to it, and it's really a lost, forgotten gem. One hidden, perhaps, behind the Veil?

The Veil COMPLETE TV SERIES Boris Karloff