He directed the first three-strip Technicolor film "Becky Sharp" (1935), based on Thackeray's "Vanity Fair", as well as the 1937 musical "High, Wide, and Handsome". His next two films earned him wide admiration, "The Mark of Zorro" (1940) and "Blood and Sand" (1941), both remakes of silent films. "Blood and Sand", about bullfighting, was filmed in Technicolor, and used color schemes based on the work of Spanish artists such as Diego Velázquez and El Greco. His foray into screwball comedy in 1942 was a success with "Rings on Her Fingers" starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney.