Heavenly Puss is probably one of the best remembered and most beloved of the Tom and Jerry films. It certainly is one that has stayed in the minds of cartoon fans.
In this film Tom is chasing Jerry around the house, when he is crushed by the piano. He finds himself at the pearly gates. However, the cat permitting passage to Heaven says that Tom can't enter because he spent his whole life persecuting Jerry. However, Tom will get another chance. He will get an hour back on Earth and if during that hour he can get Jerry to sign a certificate of forgiveness, he can go to Heaven. However, if Jerry does not sign Tom will end up in the other place (and be tormented by a Devil dog, who looks an awful lot like Spike).
This may not be the funniest Tom and Jerry cartoon, but it is one of the cleverest. The storyline is a very clever twist on the usual Tom and Jerry formula. Despite Jerry also being in this film, this is fully Tom's cartoon. Throughout this film we really care and feel sympathy for Tom. Tom is not just a series of moving drawings here but a real living and breathing character. This is especially true as the time gets closer to running out. We feel his panic and want nothing more than to see him go to Heaven. This is due both to excellent storytelling and masterful character animation. The scene where Tom is pantomiming everything that has happened to Jerry is about as good as character animation gets. It both gets across everything Tom is trying to say to Jerry while also making us feel his sense of panic. Even Jerry gets some excellent character animation, with him sneaking around at the start of the film. This film also has a prefect and very funny ending.
My only real complaint about this film is that it lacks the sheer number of great gags that populate some of the other Tom and Jerry cartoons of this era. However, the cleverness and charm overcome this easy.
The credited animators here are Ed Barge, Irv Spence, Kenneth Muse and Ray Patterson. Each of them get their time to shine. Irv Spence animates the scene where Tom is crushed by the piano. Ed Barge handles most of the animation of the cat that grants passage to Heaven as well as the scene with the small kittens. Ray Patterson animates the scenes with the evil version of Spike the bulldog.
This evil version of Spike here would later appear in the 2002 video game, Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers as an alternative costume for Spike. This version of Spike would also be used as the main antagonist of the 2003 video game, Tom and Jerry in Infurnal Escape. This film marks the last time Spike would be voiced by Billy Bletcher. Billy Blecther was a small man with a deep voice, who worked heavily doing cartoon voices, mostly as villains. He did the voice of the Big Bad Wolf in Disney's The Three Little Pigs (1933), he played Papa Bear in Chuck Jones' three bears cartoons and was Peg Leg Pete in some of the Mickey Mouse films. Before doing cartoon voices he had acted in various live action silent comedies. He would however sometimes appear in live action films during the talkie era, such as some Three Stooges shorts and Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland (1934). After Heavenly Puss, Spike would be voiced by Daws Butler, who would give the character a less evil, and more Jimmy Durante inspired voice.
The cat that grants passage to Heaven would later be a playable character in the 2019 mobile game, Tom and Jerry Chase. In that game he would be called Cooper.
The three kittens Fluff, Muff and Puff would appear in only one more Tom and Jerry short film, Triplet Trouble (1952). However, they would later appear in TV's The Tom and Jerry Show (2014) and the direct to video movie, Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale (2007).
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera would later make a semi-remake of this film with the Pixie and Dixie cartoon (from The Huckleberry Hound Show), Heavens to Jinksy (1959). Clips from Heavenly Puss would later be reused in the Tom and Jerry cartoon, Shutter Bugged Cat (1967).
Below is the movie poster for this cartoon. The drawing of Jerry is especially ugly here.
Resources Used
DVD audio commentary by Jerry Beck.
https://tomandjerry.fandom.com/wiki/Heavenly_Puss
https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/go-to-hades-part-2/
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