A couple of "lost" films from the 70s

I don't know whether I've mentioned it in detail but I have a "little list" -- "little" ha!, it goes on for several dozen typed pages -- of films that I've not seen that I would like to have a look at.  Well two of them bit the dust this weekend, but unfortunately neither was worth the wait.  The first of these was "Mastermind" made in 1969 but which sat on a shelf until 1976, and I now know why.  It was shot on location in Kyoto and stars Zero Mostel, so memorable from the first version of "The Producers", as a Charlie Chan type of detective, and he was no better in the role than other latter day attempts by Peter Sellers and Peter Ustinov.  I think it was meant to be a spoof of the genre plus an additional dig at Japanese samurai films but it fell flat on its face on all fronts.

The second film which also came out in 1976 was a television docudrama called "Helter Skelter" covering the Sharon Tate murders and the Charlie Manson trial.  I have known about this movie for years and actually watched the re-make about a year ago without ever having seen the original -- it has certainly never been on TV here.  However what may well have been a powerful depiction of a top news story all those years ago did not age well.  The only "name" in the cast was Steve Railsback (who? you ask) who did well in the Manson role, far better than Jeremy Davis in the second version.  One could just about understand how he exerted his charismatic influence over "the family" of susceptible young girls.