The Veil

The Veil is an American horror/suspense anthology television series produced in 1958 by Hal Roach Studios.

For other uses, see Veil (disambiguation).
The Veil
GenreHorror
Mystery fiction
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes12
Release
Original release1958

The series is hosted by Boris Karloff, who also acts in every episode but one. Episode plots allegedly were based upon real-life reports of supernatural happenings and the unexplained. Ten of the 12 episodes begin and end with Karloff standing in front of a roaring fireplace and inviting viewers to find out what lies "behind the veil".

Hailed by critics as "the greatest television series never seen" (according to DVD release publicity), The Veil was never broadcast. Troubles within the studio (and the collapse of a preliminary co-production arrangement with National Telefilm Associates) resulted in production being cancelled after only 10 episodes were produced. The number of episodes was considered to be too small to justify sale to a network or to syndication. In the late 1960s, footage from several episodes was combined to make films that aired on late night television. Ten episodes were released to the public in their entirety for the first time in the 1990s, and have subsequently been released on DVD by Something Weird Video.

In 1999, "Lifting the Veil of Mystery", a Tom Weaver article on the making of the series (complete with episode guide), appeared in issue #29 of Cult Movies magazine. It was later expanded into the book Scripts from the Crypt: The Veil (BearManor, 2017) which featured the series' history, scripts of several episodes, interviews with some of the participants, and a chapter on Boris Karloff's career as a television anthology host. Contributors included Weaver, Dr. Robert J. Kiss, and Barbara Bibas Montero, the daughter of the series' creator-producer, Frank Bibas.

For many years it was thought that only 10 episodes of The Veil had been produced, and two extra titles ("The Vestris" and "Peggy") were "alternative titles". However, in 2008, Timeless Media Group released a two-DVD set of The Veil, under the title Tales of the Unexplained, that included "The Vestris" and "Peggy" for a total of 12 episodes. "The Vestris" is a backdoor pilot for The Veil that aired as a 1958 episode of the anthology series Telephone Time.[1]

Episodes

There are a total of 12 episodes in the series. There is no actual airing order, since the series never aired. The episode order below is the order used in the original home video release.

  1. "The Vestris" (with Torin Thatcher and Rita Lynn; a backdoor pilot that aired as an episode of Telephone Time (S3E25))
  2. "Vision of Crime" (with Robert Hardy, Patrick Macnee and Jennifer Raine)
  3. "Girl on the Road" (with Tod Andrews and Eve Brent)
  4. "Food on the Table" (with Kay Stewart and Tudor Owen)
  5. "The Doctors" (with Tony Travis and Argentina Brunetti)
  6. "The Crystal Ball" (with Booth Colman and Roxane Berard)
  7. "Genesis" (with Katherine Squire and Peter Miller)
  8. "Summer Heat" (with Harry Bartell and Paul Bryar)
  9. "The Return of Madame Vernoy" (with Lee Torrance, Jean del Val and George Hamilton)
  10. "Destination Nightmare" (with Ron Hagerthy and Myron Healey)
  11. "Jack the Ripper" (with Niall MacGinnis and Dorothy Alison; produced by a different studio)
  12. "Whatever Happened to Peggy?" (with Denise Alexander, Whit Bissell and Olive Blakeney)

Trivia
  • The only episode in which Karloff does not appear as a character in the story, as well as serving as the host, is "Jack the Ripper"; this episode was produced by another studio and acquired by Hal Roach Studios.
  • Karloff's introductions for the episodes "Destination Nightmare" and "Peggy" are set in a study, rather than in front of a fireplace like the others.
  • Episodes have been screened at the annual Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Aberdeen, Maryland.

References
  1. "Timeless Media Tales of the Unexplained webpage". Archived from the original on 2010-11-29.
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