The Veil The Crystal Ball (1958– ) Online

As a huge fan of Classic Horror cinema, I find the entire "The Veil" series highly entertaining, especially since it is hosted by none other than the great Horror-deity Boris Karloff (one of the most brilliant actors ever in cinema). The entire series is highly recommendable to Horror/Mystery buffs, but it must be said that the individual episodes do differ in quality. Some episodes (such as "Jack The Ripper") are excellent, others (such as "Genesis") are quite cheesy (but nonetheless fun). This fifth episode, "The Crystal Ball" is not one of the best episodes in the show, in fact it may be one of the lesser, but it nonetheless guarantees a highly entertaining 25 minutes for a lover of Classic spooks. A Paris writer is devastated when his fiancée leaves him for his publisher. She gives him a crystal ball as a goodbye present, which turns out to have clairvoyant abilities... A classic paranormal theme - the ability to see things with the help of crystal balls - is delivered entertainingly in this episode. Karloff plays a small, but fun role, and he is brilliant as always. The rest of the performances are also good. While the episode is never eerie or atmospheric it is fun to watch, and a worthwhile entry to the series overall.

There is something lacking in these episodes. In this one, a writer is told by the love of his life that she is marrying his editor. She is quite blunt, telling him it is strictly about money. She wants to be kept by a rich man and live in luxury. She says they can still be friends, but he is crushed. To make matters worse, she gifts him a crystal ball in parting. Soon he is overcome with writer's block, holing up in his rooms with no productivity. His uncle, played by Karloff, tries to get him off the schneid, but he is totally depressed. One day he looks into the crystal ball and sees that his beloved is having an affair, under the editor's nose. Of course, as is the case with so many supernatural, psychological stories, no one else can see what he sees. The ending is utterly anticlimactic, drifting off to nowhere.

Sweet and successful writer Edmond Vallier (nicely played by Booth Colman) receives a crystal ball gift from the fetching and flighty Marie (a solid and captivating portrayal by the attractive Roxane Berard) after she dumps him. Edmond soon starts seeing visions of Marie having flings with other men. Director Herbert L. Strock and writer Robert Joseph handle the mild supernatural elements of the engrossing story in a smart, subtle, and compelling way and neatly explore the theme of jealousy. The sound acting from the competent cast helps a lot: Colman and Berard do fine work in the lead roles, the always marvelous Boris Karloff makes the most out of his sizable part as Edmond's wise and jolly uncle Andre Giraud, plus there are good supporting turns by Leo Penn as hearty publisher Charles Montcour and Albert Carrier as dashing painter Philippe Jussard. Both Howard Schwartz's crisp black and white cinematography and Leon Klatzkin's spare shivery score are up to speed. An enjoyable show.

THE CRYSTAL BALL is another dullish episode of the show, and even Karloff in support can breathe no life into it. A guy's girlfriend leaves him but gifts him a crystal ball, with which he spies on her canoodling with a new love interest. The visions drive him mad. With an unlikeable protagonist and dearth of engaging incident, this one's best forgotten.

THE CRYSTAL BALL is a very much a dull episode of THE VEIL, focused around a boring love triangle with the occasional bit of remote viewing added to the mix. It's a mundane and unenterprising affair, lacking decent cast members, and even I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF director Herbert L. Strock can't add life to it.

This is a reasonably entertaining episode of "The Veil"--a series about the supernatural which was never picked up by the networks. Oddly, however, they made 10 episodes and later a few of the episodes were slapped together to make a feature film. Like all but one of them, Boris Karloff is the host and acts in the teleplay as well.

Edmund is smitten with Marie. However, Marie is a conniver and announces to him that she's leaving him to get married to another--simply because the other man is rich! As she leaves, she gives Edmund a strange gift--a crystal ball. Over the next weeks, instead of getting over this and finding another as his uncle (Karloff) insists, he just mopes around the house--staring into this magical crystal ball. This is because, oddly, he seems to be able to see Marie where ever she goes! What's next for Edmund and Marie? See the show.

This is a pretty good episode though it's less entertaining than some because I found Edmund to be a whiny loser. Hearing him talk incessantly about Marie made it difficult to like the guy and I just wanted to smack him and tell him to get a life! Still, it was modestly entertaining and unique.

The setting is Paris and a successful writer, Edmond, is passionately in love with Marie, a woman more interested in wealth than his feelings for her, marrying his publisher, Charles, instead. Marie isn't satisfied, however, and becomes involved with a French painter in Paris, Philippe. Edmond becomes obsessed with Marie's whereabouts and activities, allowed to "spy" on her by peering into a crystal ball. Uncle Andre(Karloff who is spirited, playful, and bombastic) attempts to help steer Edmond away from the trap of his passion for Marie so that he can move on from the jealousy ensnaring him, hoping the writer will no longer wallow in his misery, unable to do so. When Charles returns from a trip to England and Amsterdam, he senses something amiss about his wife because of Edmond's elusive nature (not to mention, how nervy and uncomfortable he looks; he literally wears it), simply not wanting to discuss Marie at all. Through heavy persistence and dogged interrogations, Charles is finally able to wring the truth from Edmond, not convinced that a crystal ball is revealing Marie and Philippe's affair (he doesn't see what Edmond does, but the crystal ball instigates a pursuit which will lead Charles to Philippe's apartment in Paris). Karloff, as narrator, informs us that what Edmond saw through the crystal ball was used as testimony on behalf of his publisher, which provided inspiration for this tale. Interesting use of the crystal ball as a voyeuristic tool, as well as, a witness to adultery. Marie is the central object of attraction for all the principle male characters (except Andre who seems to enjoy being a bachelor way too much to settle down for just one woman, perplexed as to why Edmond hasn't escaped from his slumber), not exactly a female character cast in a positive light as she seems to be money hungry, yet embraces an affair with another artistic type certain to lead to her downfall. With Booth Colman, effective as the lovestruck and frustrated Edmond Vallier, Roxane Berard as the object of everyone's affections, Marie, Leo Penn as the enraged husband publisher Charles Montcour, and Albert Carrier as the new painter lover of Marie, Philippe Jussard.

***SPOILERS*** Interesting little tidbit from the Boris Karloff "The Veil" TV series with Boris playing Andre Giraud the kind and understanding uncle of dime store novelist Edmond Valler, Booth Colman, a man hopelessly in love with his boss's wife Marie, Roxane Beard. It was in fact Marie who dumped Edmond for his boss book publisher Charles Montcour, Leo Penn, feeling that he's not good enough for her in the money earning department.

Giving Edmond a crystal ball as a going away present Marie never realized that the ball she gave Edmond will reveal to him every move that she makes in and out of the Montcour mansion. With Montcour leaving town on a business trip he asks Edmond to check in on Marie every now and then to see if everything is all right with her. Not being a total fool by looking after his ex-lover Marie for the person, Charles Montcour, who stole her from him Edmond peers into the crystal ball that Marie gave him and sees that she's fooling around with artist Philippe Jssand,Albert Carrier, at his loft in Paris! It's when Montcour comes back from his trip and asks Edmond how his wife Marie has been doing he senses that Edmound is holding back very impotent information about her from him! It's when Montcour accuses Edmond of having an affair with Marie that he finally decides to tell him the truth about Marie and Philippe by showing him what their up to in his crystal ball. With Montcour seeing nothing at all in the magic ball Edmond decides to take him to Phillip's pad in Paris to either find out that what the crystal ball is showing him and only him is the truth or that he's going insane!

***SPOILERS*** Nothing really that surprising in the episode's final and revealing sequence but the fact that Marie seemed to look like someone else when her husband Montcour showed up at her lover's Philippe Jussard's Paris loft. For a moment I couldn't figurer out if in fact what the crystal ball was showing Edmond was the truth or not! It was only in the episode's epilogue that Boris Karloff cleared things up with me and anyone else who was confused watching what was going on between Marie and Philippe! That by him explaining that it was the crystal ball that was all the evidence that Montcour needed to get the courts to gave him a divorce from Marie!