I never recognized anything wrong with the ending. I'll have to dig the VHS out and see what you're talking about. As I recall Markov escapes from prison with Tamara saving her life after she spent much of the film shirking him. I recall her father, played by wonderful old George Fawcett, is himself lined up against the wall and executed by the reds. That's the last killing I remember towards the end. Maybe you're watching a print that has even less footage than some. Or maybe you're talking about the Svengali looking character played by Boris De Fas whom Markov kills. It was obvious if you were watching the film closely that Markov never liked the Boris character and only killed him when Tamara's life was threatened.

Thanks v much. Nice to know I'm not alone in the "What, It's Over?" club.

You ask a good question and the best way I can reply is to pass along some info that the great, late film historian, Wm. K. Everson, gave me many years ago. When Everson first ran across TEMPEST, he had access to the 35mm original negative and some prints. He said that all of them were missing the end, which movie reviews described as a brief sleigh chase across the Austrian border. Everson surmised that the footage may have been used in another film and never restored to TEMPEST. I'm a little disappointed that nobody, especially Blackhawk Films back in the 70s, coul16d0dn't at least have added a title card bridging the missing action. Hope this helps.