Thriller film film "M" (1931), directed by Fritz Lang, starred Peter Lorre (in his first film role) as a criminal deviant who preys on children. Hitchcock continued his suspense-thrillers, directing "Foreign Correspondent" (1940), the Oscar-winning "Rebecca" (1940), "Suspicion" (1941), "Saboteur" (1942) and "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943), which was Hitchcock's own personal favorite. Notable non-Hitchcock films of the 1940s include "The Spiral Staircase" (1946) and "Sorry, Wrong Number" (1948). In the late 1940s, Hitchcock added Technicolor to his thrillers, now with exotic locales. Hitchcock's first Technicolor film was "Rope" (1948). He reached the zenith of his career with a succession of classic
Raymond Hitchcock (actor) two apparently playing firemen. Hitchcock also made several phonograph recordings of which many survive. In 1907, Hitchcock was charged with the sexual abuse of two adolescent girls together with New York magnate William A. Chanler. As Hitchcock's trial progressed, it was revealed that the charges of sexual abuse were fabricated as part of a blackmail scheme. Hitchcock was acquitted by a jury on June 11, 1908, after spending almost nine months in prison. In 1925, Hitchcock appeared in a test film made by Lee DeForest in DeForest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process, in which Hitchcock performed a sketch from his revue "Hitchy-Koo",