User Reviews

Based on a "true and authenticated incident," this episode of "The Veil" is set in India and involves reincarnation. Rama (Julius Johnson) wants to marry young Santha (Lee Torrance), but is warned by Santha's mother Madame Naidu (Iphigenie Castiglioni) that her daughter believes herself to be the reincarnation of a woman who already has a living husband and son. Regardless, Rama decides to accompany both Santha and her mother to another city, where Santha plans to be reunited with her former family. Meanwhile, widower Armand Vernoy (Jean Del Val) is broke and worried about not having enough money to send his son Krishna (George Hamilton!) away to college in America. Santha shows up claiming to be both Armand's long-dead wife (who passed away during childbirth) and Krishna's mother. Naturally, she's met with skepticism, but soon starts revealing things about their past (a nickname, the date she died, household details, etc.) that make them wonder if she really is who she claims she is. All loose ends are tied up with a happy ending for all concerned. Karloff appears as both host and as Dr. Charles Goncourt, a professor friend of Armand's looking for a rational explanation. As usual for the series, the episode is mediocre, talky and set-bound, with a predictable, though tolerable, storyline. The only thing distinguishing this episode are a few silly attempts at Indian accents (I'm lookin' at you, Mr. Hamilton!). Director Herbert L. Strock went on to make several popular schlock horror films, such as HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER (1958) and THE CRAWLING HAND (1963). He also directed the "Visions of Crime" and "Crystal Ball" episodes of this series.

"The Veil" series was unsold and never ran as a series on network TV. Instead, the episodes were combined to play as anthology features. This one was combined with "Destination Nightmare" (with Myron Healey), "Girl on the Road" (with Tod Andrews) and "Summer Heat" (with Whit Bissell) and released as DESTINATION NIGHTMARE.

This tale of the "unexplainable which lies behind the veil" concerns reincarnation, set in India, a young Hindu woman, Santha Naidu(Lee Torrance), wholeheartedly believes she is the reincarnated spirit of Madame Vernoy, wife of Armand (Jean Del Val) , knowing exact details about their marriage among other things related to their life together before her death. Deciding to go to him, Santha will have to come to terms with Armand's resistance towards her because of the age gap and his disbelief in reincarnation, not to mention a grown son, Krishna (George Hamilton; this time the tan is make-up so he looks Indian) with designs on going to an American university with Professor Charles Goncourt (Boris Karloff). Can Santha convince Armand (and Krishna) that she is in fact his wife, reborn in the body of a much younger woman? This episode will probably be most notable as featuring an early performance from a young George Hamilton as Krishna, the polite and calm-mannered son of a father who has lost his savings due to a bad investment thanks "to the war", unable to accept that Santha was formerly his mother in a past life. The setting, featuring Indian characters, with the theme of reincarnation the story's supernatural component, makes "The Return of Madame Vernoy" stand out as unique amongst the previous tales of the short-lived series, even if it isn't spooky or chilling. With Iphigenie Castiglioni as Madame Naidu, Santha's mother, who accepts that her daughter is Vernoy, although she would prefer the young woman to settle down with childhood pal, Rama (Julius Johnson, whose character is noble and honorable even though his heart pines for Santha). Karloff's role here is among his most *secondary* and less interesting, although he's still quite likable and well wanted, an obvious long-time family friend and mentor to Hamilton's character.

Lovely young Santha Naidu (a vibrant and appealing portrayal by Lee Torrance) is born with the memories of Madame Vernoy, who died in a small Indian village leaving behind down on his luck husband Armand (nicely played by Jean Del Val) and skeptical college-bound son Krisha (an early adult role for a very young and then unknown George Hamilton). Naturally, both Armand and especially Krishna have trouble believing Santha's story. Director Herbert L. Strock and writer Stanley H. Silverman do a solid enough job of crafting a compelling story, treat the subject of reincarnation with admirable taste and restraint, and offer a flavorsome evocation of the Middle East, but a rather slow pace and a bit too much talk prevent this particular tale from working as well as it should. Moreover, Hamilton is none too convincing as an Indian. Fortunately, the supporting cast is very sound, with the always reliable Boris Karloff a definite stand-out as friendly and pragmatic professor Charles Goncourt. Both Howard Schwartz's crisp black and white cinematography and Leon Klatzkin's spare score are up to par. An overall acceptable show.

The veil is over a re-incarnated woman who is younger than the son she remembers giving birth to, and that makes her more than half the age of the aging husband she still loves. This is a strangely odd episode of the Boris Karloff anthology show "The Veil", not quite as thrilling as " Thriller", but often quite intriguing in its air of mystery. This one, however, felt both forced and rushed, oddly acted and slowly paced. Other than Karloff, playing a doctor with some knowledge of the occult, the only recognizable actor is a young George Hamilton as the son. So at best, this is a curious piece of vintage T.V. theater and not one of the better ones in the series.

It seems like most reviewers of these 'Veil' episodes take them as hardly to be believed. But what if they are based on true events, as narrator Boris Karloff claims in his opening and closing monologs? That would make this one truly incredible. It presents a young woman who believed in her past life as the wife and mother of a young son, who died very shortly after giving birth. Now, some two decades later, Santha Naidu (Lee Torrance), 'reborn' only a year and ten days after her 'death', insists on returning to the village of Muthra in India where she formerly lived in order to see her aged husband and now grown son who would actually be older than she is! What makes the story compelling is how Santha relates little known and obscure facts to Armond Vernoy (Jean Del Val) and son Krishna (George Hamilton in his very first, non-tanned acting role). The kicker is when she reveals the jewels her extravagant husband gave her on their wedding day, hidden in plain sight in an ornamental stand in their home. They wind up saving the day for Krishna's education in America, which would have been delayed or even abandoned for lack of funds. Bowing to conventional wisdom however, Santha decided to return to Delhi with her mother and admirer Rama (Julius Johnson) rather than pursue a rather untenable relationship with the much older Armand. Taken at face value, this odd reincarnation story would make it one of the more fascinating entries from 'The Veil'.

THE RETURN OF MADAME VERNOY is an episode of THE VEIL that might just have worked better on the page than it does on the screen. It's a long-winded past-life story with an Indian setting, in which a young woman recalls impossible details from the life of a woman who died a year previously. This is slow and stately stuff, in which the presence of Karloff himself alongside a youthful George Hamilton does little for the viewer.