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 wrote in 1982: "The Hitchcock touch had four hands, and two were Alma's." Hitchcock began work on his tenth film, "Blackmail" (1929), when its production company, British International Pictures (BIP), converted its Elstree studios to sound. The film was the first British ""; it followed the first American sound feature film, "The Jazz Singer" (1927). "Blackmail" began the Hitchcock tradition of using famous landmarks as a backdrop for suspense sequences, with the climax taking place on the dome of the British Museum. It also features one of his longest cameo appearances, which shows him being bothered by a small boy