May 21, 1982 –
The ingeniously crafted comedy Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, a unique blend of parody, homage, and technical wizardry that paid loving tribute to the film noir genre of the 1940s opened on this date. Directed and co-written by Carl Reiner, and starring Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, and Carl Reiner, the film is particularly remarkable for the way it seamlessly integrates clips from classic noir films of the ’40s and ’50s.
The film began as a very different project. Originally, Steve Martin and Carl Reiner had conceived it as a ‘30s-era satire titled Depression. However, after Reiner experimented with incorporating archival footage of a 1930s actor into one scene, he and Martin realized the comic and cinematic potential of building the entire film around that concept.
The Haus of Dcaligari 