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
Alfred Hitchcock as he reads a book on the London Underground. In the PBS series "The Men Who Made The Movies", Hitchcock explained how he used early sound recording as a special element of the film, stressing the word "knife" in a conversation with the woman suspected of murder. During this period, Hitchcock directed segments for a BIP revue, "Elstree Calling" (1930), and directed a short film, "An Elastic Affair" (1930), featuring two "Film Weekly" scholarship winners. "An Elastic Affair" is one of the lost films. In 1933 Hitchcock was once again working for Michael Balcon at Gaumont British. His first film