Lecter asked about the yards surrounding the homes - both were fenced with big back yards and hedges, where the serial killer could potentially find privacy (in the nude) and look at the blackish-appearing blood in the light of the full moon.Selznick International Pictures had served as the production company forRebecca (1940), and Selznick had loaned Hitchcock out to Walter Wanger Productions for this film.It told about a trio of eccentric parapsychologists called upon to investigate hauntings in various NYC locations.The visually-opulent film was inspired by writer/director Fritz Lang""sDer Müde Tod (1921) (aka Destiny or The Tired Death)- the source for the flying horse and carpet sequences, and adapted fromOne Thousand and One Nights(orArabian Nights).The dark-horse film won three awards (presented in early March of 1944): Best Picture (producer Hal B.