Der zerrissene Vorhang
By the time "Torn Curtain", his fiftieth film, was conceived, Hitchcock was the most famous film director in Hollywood, having already reached the pinnacle of commercial success six years before with "Psycho" (1960). Audiences eagerly anticipated his next film. To find a gripping plot, Hitchcock turned towards the spy thriller genre, which was greatly in fashion since the early 1960s with the success of the James Bond series starting in 1962 with "Dr. No". Hitchcock had already found success in that genre many times, most recently in 1959 with "North by Northwest".