It is rare that Mystery Theater actually chills you to the bone with fear. But MT does do creepy excellently. Such is the case for "Is the Lady Dead?" An excellent listen while not sewing up the ending. It leaves the conclusion up to the listener. 4 stars.

A young executive millionare travels to Europe and takes a wife. Soon, his wife dies and he brings her back in his mind.

A hard-driven business tycoon finds the love of his life while on a trip to Europe and they marry after only one week together. Shortly thereafter she dies but not before he promises to bring her back from the dead. Genre: Occult/Drama

A world-traveling businessman marries a woman after a whirlwind romance in Europe. It becomes apparent that she has had a very unhappy life to that point and, while they don’t really know much about each other, they are very much in love. The complicating factor is that the woman falls gravely ill and the husband speculates that just as people can die from grief, it may be possible that she is dying of happiness. On her deathbed she pleads with him to bring her back from the dead in order to continue their happy life together. What he does to fulfill her wish seems to lead him down a path to madness.

I liked this episode, especially how EG left the episode on how the ring may have shown up.

It feels like Dann had about five different concepts for the Rachel character but wrote none of them. The actress sells some of her lines as though she is some sort of ill-fated mythological creature, but with no particular explanation for who she is or why she dies, the entire story comes across half-baked.

I wonder why Earl Hammond was not mentioned as part of the cast?

maybe because he was not...

I try, I really try, to suffer through Joan Loring’s chronically-congested nasal voice that always sounds as if she suffers from an endless cold. All I heard was a ghost in serious need of a decongestant.

This is one of my fave listens ! What a great hour. I love how (Larry Haines) is so convincing in all his arguments. Rachel is convincingly little bit creepy and I wasn't sure in the beginning if she really was SPOILER !! alive. I listened to this back to back; just loved the actors, writing and everything about this one. I am surprised to see so many thumbs down :( Loved it !!

Concerned only with piling up a fortune, millionaire Barney Kreuger has never married — until, while driving in England, he falls in love with Rachel, whose car he hits. Married just a week, the two return to America. Seven days later, Rachel is dead—for reasons unknown. A man who in business has never accepted no for an answer, Barney vows that Rachel will live again — even if it costs him his many millions.

They never explain why Rachel was sick (dying from happiness?!?!?) and one isn't sure if he is insane, whether she is some kind of vampire, or some kind of living dead zombie, lol! From start to finish, nothing makes sense. Larry Haines made the most of a crazy story and performed well. Still, I think that there should have been better explanations about what was going on in the story.

I agree exactly. I did like the mother character.

Also, (SPOILER) why does Rachel give up so easily at the end? She was so determined to live, and one got the impression she was using his life force to stay alive, so why did she suddenly just give up and leave? One gets the impression that the writer just had to wrap up the story quickly, so he churned out a lame ending.

Well of course two plus two doesn’t equal four. What a silly proposition, after all that. Tell a story or don’t ... but by all means don’t try and have your cake and eat it too. And the story was wonderful on itself own merits. I thought the butler was portrayed sensationally. Really made the story for me.

I rate this episode ★★★★☆ for GOOD. This is one of Sam Dann’s best Occult-Drama stories. It had passion, it had tragedy, and it definitely had mystery. And there were mysterious parts that weren’t explained. Like, what was Rachel’s physical description? What was she planning on doing in England before she met her future husband? Did she actually die from Happiness? And why did she give up on her lover so easily in the final Act? The chemistry between the 2 lovers was truly wonderful and it was filled with emotion, but the Resolution was missing. In our Host’s Prologue, E.G. Marshall's topic was about returning from the beyond. In ACT-1, meet our main character: 32-year-old Barney Kreuger. In ACT-2, his significant lover is dead, but he won’t accept it. But when she does come back, is she REALLY back? Our Host compares this story to Orpheus that wanted to reclaim his lover Eurydice back from the Underworld. In ACT-3, Barney believed he could attain any goal, including bringing his dead wife back. In the end, the Conclusion was that Rachel returned to the grave and left her diamond ring to release him from their marriage vows. In his Epilogue, E.G. Marshall thinks that Barney may have removed the diamond ring from Rachel’s grave. But there’s no proof in the storyline if his clothes were dirty or any reports that her grave was broken into. Also, as I said before, there’s no Resolution; particularly for the remaining characters. Does Winters continue to serve the Kreuger family? Does Barney’s Mother find a therapist for him? Does Barney even find love again? Another mystery we may never solve. Anyway, the music they used was fantastic. A lot of dramatic and tragic tunes that made the story intriguing. Sound effects of the rotary phones, doors, piano music playing in the background, tableware clinking, and footsteps were OK, but not many were used in the 2nd Act. But I will say that the cast in this episode was superb: Larry Haines (as Barney Kreuger), Joan Loring (as Rachel), Ann Pitoniak (as Barney’s Mother), and Leon Janney (as Winters and Carlson). Leon Janney was great in his minor roles. Ann Pitoniak was terrific as the Mother. I adore Joan Loring’s performance; it reminds me of her role in #0053-THE CREATURE FROM THE SWAMP where she plays a mysterious girl, with only 1 name, captivates a single man’s affections, and departs from the real world in the end. And Larry Haines was outstanding; playing a character who was smart on business, but more importantly, he yearned for romantic love in the oddest circumstances. Both Larry Haines & Joan Loring were a perfect duo as lovers. The storyline is amusing, but more importantly, the chemistry of these 2 characters is what makes this episode compelling. Until next time…pleasant dreams.

EG does an excellent job as always drawing you into the story. This story was okay but there were just too many unexplained parts, why was she dying, why did she leave at the end, who was she. The mother came across as greedy about the ring, but then her son made her rich, she didn't want to lose that! The butler was excellent! The ending makes you wonder, liked that part. loved the commercials and news, they help to make these stories more enjoyable. Until next time!

I rate this episode 7.5 out of 10

Larry is good at acting like a complete nutcase! I bet I wasn't the only one who though his mother and coworker should've slapped the hell out of him!