The Cat (1991/88 Films Blu-ray*)/Mogambo (1953/MGM**)/Stranger On The Third Floor (1940/RKO**)/Tarzan and His Mate (1934/MGM/**all Warner Archive Blu-ray)/#Shakspearesshitstorm 4K (2020/Troma 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray/*both MVD)

4K Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B+/B/B/B/B- Sound: B+/C+/C+/C+/B & B- Extras: C+/C/C+/C/B Films: C/C+/C+/C+/D

PLEASE NOTE: The Mogambo, Stranger On The Third Floor and Tarzan and His Mate Blu-rays are now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.

Here's genre films all over the place...

Director Ngai Choi Lam (Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, Erotic Ghost Story) brings us the outrageous sci-fi/action film The Cat (1991) now out on Blu-ray from 88 Films.

A black alien cat teams up with a young girl and an older man to fight against a psychotic shapeshifting alien that possesses and terrorizes humanity.

The film features shots of a real black cat and various puppets, there is also a dog character and the two fight in a mostly hilarious battle scene. Although being sensitive to animals I do hope that none were harmed in the making of this film. I admit that the cat getting hurt in a few scenes did bother me as a cat lover.

The film stars Gloria Yip, Waise Lee, Christine Ng, Siu-Ming Lau, Phillip and Chung-Fung Kwok.

Special Features:

New program with writer Gordon Chang

Audio commentary by critic Frank Djeng

Image Gallery

Newly translated English subtitles

LIMITED EDITION RIGID SLIP CASE WITH NEW ARTWORK BY SEAN LONGMORE

LIMITED EDITION 40-PAGE PERFECT BOUND BOOK

and LIMITED EDITION PREMIUM ART CARD.

The Cat has some outrageous (oftentimes cartoony) special effects and an interesting story. Of course today the animals would be primarily digitally animated, but the thought of animal violence when watching a few of the scenes could be triggering for some.

John Ford's Mogambo (1953) has been upgraded to Blu-ray by Warner Archive and was reviewed on DVD in a Grace Kelly set a while ago. On that said, I noted that the film was...

''made by MGM and has Kelly supporting a torrid pairing of Clark Gable and Ava Gardner in a tale set in the rugged jungle with an affair between the leads as savage as the environment. A film with mixed results, Kelly more than holds her own and they are backed by some solid British actors.''

The film disappoints and is not one of Ford's stronger works, yet it is still interesting intermittently and the actors do not have the chemistry I expected, though this is Kelly in a less glamorous position, relatively speaking. It all comes across more clearly here, even if the film has not aged well and only works so well.

Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailer, MGM Fitzpatrick Traveltalks short Land Of The Ugly Duckling and MGM Tom & Jerry Technicolor animated short classic Just Ducky.

I had more to say on Boris Ingster's Stranger On The Third Floor (1940,) a film that happened just as Film Noir was arriving and you can read more about it at this link:

https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14228/Chato's+Land+(1972/United+Artists/MGM/Twilight+Tim

The improved fidelity of the format and solid restoration bring out more of the darkness and make the film more palpable, but still not enough to be a full Noir to me. Still, everyone serious about film needs to see this one at least once.

Extras include three Peter Lorre audio-only radio drama appearances from the hit series Mystery In the Air (Beyond Good & Evil, Crime & Punishment, Mask Of Medusa) and two classic animated cartoons: Ceiling Hero and Wacky Life.

Cedric Gibbons' Tarzan and His Mate (1934) is considered by many to be the best of the Johnny Weissmuller films in his series, save the original debut film that it followed by being the second of six made at MGM, which we reviewed on Blu-ray at this link:

https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16390/Tarzan+The+Ape+Man+(1932/MGM/Warner+Archive+B

It keeps intact many involved in the original film, including bringing back longtime leading man Neil Hamilton in a strong supporting role (later Commissioner Gordon on the 1960s Adam West Batman series) and some of the action and chemistry between the cast. Unfortunately, the film cannot get away from a certain racist feel and/or 'us and them' feel and the series soon befell to serious formula, only to become WWII anti-Axis propaganda when the series switched to RKO Studios as we covered in this DVD box set:

https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4464/The+Tarzan+Collection+%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%80

A pre-code production, much of it would be censored, but this is as restored as it can be finding Tarzan and Jane (Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan) happy together until her old ex (Paul Cavanagh) shows up. Instead of some kind of live triangle, he is there to steal a great treasure that really needs to be left alone. Action, nudity, violence and more follow.

I would watch the first film first, but it is enough of a key entry serious Tarzan fans will want to check out. Nice it has been saved and restored.

Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailer and two MGM live action short films: The Spectacle Maker and What Price Jazz.

The creator of The Toxic Avenger franchise, Lloyd Kaufman, returns to the directing chair with #shakespeareshitstorm (2020), a Troma Entertainment production. The end result is just as sleazy and absurd as one would expect having seen past Troma movies with a force feed of sex, poop jokes, nudity, violence, and over the top profanity.

Parodying Shakespeare's The Tempest, the film explores everything from cancel culture and gender to Shakespeare to politics to modern day consumerism, the film has a lot to say but in most deliberately silly way possible. That being said, this film is no way good or even possible to recommend to someone. It's gross, oftentimes just crude for the sake of being crude. The jokes don't always land. The acting is horrendous. The real sh'''tstorm here is the film itself which was made for no other reason than to be as over the top absurd as possible. But in his own charming way, that's what every movie directed by Lloyd Kaufman is.

The film stars Catherine Corcoran, Debbie Rochon (who deserves better), and Lloyd Kaufman (in cross dress) as the leads.

Special Features:

Introduction by Lloyd Kaufman

Producers and Cast Commentaries

A Heaping Serving Of Troma!

Theatrical Trailers

Radiation March

I've Been Tromatized!

Troma In Times Square!

Full Length Behind The Scenes Documentary

Tromalbania

and Original Songs From The Movie

#Shakespeareshitstorm is exactly the kind of absurd film you expect it to be coming from Troma. If you are familiar with the brand and know have the juvenile sense of humor to handle it then fine. But if you are easily offended then this is NOT the film for you.

Now for playback performance. #Shakespeareshitstorm is a three disc set and is presented in 2160p on 4K UHD disc with HEVC/H.265, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image at 2.40:1 and an audio track in English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) and DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless presentations. The film is shot digitally and actually looks pretty good for being a Troma production, with even some animation thrown into the mix. The image however isn't anything demo disc worthy with it actually working against the film in a few instances of making some of the special effects look worse. Most notable is a scene involving whales (if you know you know) that comes across a little cartoony, but it is also apparently not a 4K production.

There's also a Blu-ray disc of the film included in 1080p high definition on 2K Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4 AVC codec and the same sound mixes and widescreen aspect ratio. While not as sharp as the 4K UHD, the film still holds up fine in 1080p as this isn't necessarily a production that demands HDR.

The Cat is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and a nice sounding track in Dolby Digital 5.1 and lesser, lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks in English, Spanish, and French depending on your personal taste. While it's not as impressive as Ultra HD, the film looks and sounds fine and doesn't have any glaring issues on Blu-ray that hinder the presentation.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Mogambo can still show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film on home video with marked improvements in the dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor the film was produced in. That does nor make the jungle look like a lavish hotel either, but it just plays better overall.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfers on Stranger On The Third Floor and Tarzan and His Mate can show the age of the materials used at times, but they both look much better here and Tarzan looks as good as the first film on Blu-ray, so fans will find the upgrades worth it. More than a few shots will also impress.

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes on all three Warner Archive releases are sonically limited and show their age, they are all sounding as good as they likely ever will and the restoration work on all three was worth all the efforts put into them. They certainly sound better than their old lossy DVD counterparts.

To order the Mogambo, Stranger On The Third Floor and/or Tarzan and His Mate Warner Archive Blu-rays, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20

- Nicholas Sheffo (Warner Archive) and James Lockhart

https://letterboxd.com/jhl5films/