Why Alfred Hitchcock’s 1969 spy thriller Topaz was plagued by three different endings

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Alfred Hitchcock’s Cold War thriller Topaz was a production defined by chaos. With no completed screenplay at the start of filming and a studio-mandated ending, the director struggled to find a satisfying conclusion. The result was a film that left critics divided and remains a curious case of cinematic compromise.

Released in 1969, Topaz was adapted from Leon Uris’s novel about a French intelligence agent uncovering a Soviet spy ring. The production was fraught with difficulty from the start. Hitchcock and Uris clashed over character development and the inclusion of black humor, leading Uris to abandon the project mid-draft. Samuel A. Taylor was eventually hired to finish the script, but shooting began before the screenplay was complete, with some scenes written only hours before cameras rolled.

The film’s climax proved particularly troublesome. Hitchcock’s original cut featured a duel in a French football stadium, which test audiences panned. He then shot a second version where the villain, Granville, escapes to the Soviet Union. While Hitchcock preferred this ending, it confused viewers and faced objections from the screenwriter, who felt the villain should be punished. Ultimately, the studio forced a third ending: a suicide implied by a gunshot heard off-screen, created by editing existing footage. This version was cut by nearly 20 minutes to reach a 126-minute theatrical runtime.

Critical reception was polarized. While some reviewers praised the film’s technical polish and specific sequences, such as the Harlem hotel scene, others found it dull and lacking the director's signature wit. Despite the presence of international stars like Claude Jade and Philippe Noiret, the film was a commercial disappointment, earning $3.8 million in North American rentals in 1970. Today, the film exists in multiple forms, with later home video releases restoring the longer 143-minute cut and providing audiences the chance to view all three of Hitchcock’s debated endings.

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