Simply A Masterpiece

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Expected more

Absolutely the worst movie.

CAST: Tom, Jerry, a bulldog, a gatekeeper, and various heavenly express-bound cats.Directors: WILLIAM HANNA, Joseph BARBERA. Animators: Ray Patterson, Irven Spence, Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge. Music: Scott Bradley. Color by Technicolor. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Fred Quimby.Copyright 17 June 1949 (in notice: 1948) by Loew's Inc. An M-G-M "Tom and Jerry" cartoon. U.S. release: 9 July 1949. 8 minutes. COMMENT: I'm surprised this one wasn't nominated for an Academy Award. Tom finds he can't enter heaven unless he obtains a "Certificate of Forgiveness" from Jerry. The escalator to heaven is truly magical, the cauldron of hell unspeakably terrifying. A pleasantly off-beat story, with many neat touches.

This short opens with Tom sleeping by the fire and Jerry sneaking on to the table to steal some food; Tom wakes and sees him and is soon after him. As Jerry tries to flee upstairs Tom tugs on the carpet; as he keeps pulling the piano on the landing approaches the top of the stairs then tumbles down and squashes Tom against the wall. It looks as if Tom's used up his nine lives as a gold escalator appears and takes him to the golden gates where recently deceased cats are queuing to board the Heavenly Express. As Tom tries to board he is told he can't as he spent his life tormenting Jerry... if he is to board he must get a signed letter of forgiveness from Jerry within one hour; should he fail he will go straight to hell! He wakes up and desperately tries to get Jerry to sign it; Jerry isn't in a forgiving mood so he will need a lot of persuading!This was a great short with plenty of good laughs; with all the things that have happened to Tom and Jerry before it is amazing that neither of them has 'died' before. There is less violent action than usual but that is no bad thing as the scene where Tom ascends the escalator and tries to board the Heavenly Express were entertaining. There was one shock in there too... we hear how other cats died before three kittens emerge from a dripping sack suggesting that they had been deliberately drowned and the gatekeeper a shakes his head and says 'what some people won't do'... pretty dark for a cartoon. Tom's attempts to get Jerry to forgive him were fairly funny; almost the opposite of his usual behaviour. There is a little twist at the end... after all Tom can't really be dead as he has more cartoons to star in.

As an avid fan of Tom and Jerry, I enjoyed Heavenly Puss. I too couldn't help thinking of Pluto's Judgement Day when I saw this, and while that was very good this in my opinion was better. I loved the concept of the cartoon, the Heavenly Express looked amazing and Hell looked incredibly scary, I couldn't help feeling sorry for Tom as he begged for Jerry to sign for forgiveness. I also loved the artwork, with beautiful backgrounds and interesting character designs, and the music was really clever here ascending scales as Tom went up those stairs up into Heaven and the more dramatic threatening tones for Hell. There isn't anything hilarious here, but what stood out here was the cartoon's uniqueness. And the characters are fine, Jerry isn't given as much to do but he is still his sweet self, and Spike does a great job as the devilish dog figure with a laugh that still frightens me. I also liked the kindly conductor, he had some great dialogue, but as I've said before (sort of) Tom is the star of the show, although he is dastardly to begin with, his pleas for forgiveness are heart breaking and then the ending with him hugging Jerry(more to do with Jerry's confused facial expression) was quite funny. Oh, and those kittens are absolutely adorable. Overall, different but unique. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I just saw this cartoon for the fourth time this week in boomerang on Cartoon Network this evening and turned on my computer again - just to check this out... and wondered - the cat who check and clears the cats for the heavenly express, isn't it Anthony Hopkins voice?? wondered and checked it out on this site, and it turned out that there where no voice records on this - and I read Anthonys as well... turned out nothing.. maybe its me?? would like to get some voice records - or just an answer for my wondering... this is one of my favorite tom and jerry small time cartoon.../L