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Heavenly Puss (1949)
It's a different cartoon, but it works.
Heavenly Puss was produced at the same time as The Little Orphan and Hatch Up Your Troubles, the latter of which is somewhat of a parallel to this one.
The premise is that Tom, in his typical (but more brutal than usual) pursuit of Jerry, dies, goes to heaven, is denied, and needs Jerry's forgiveness. When Jerry gives it to Tom too late, he plunges into hell for all eternity... until an ember wakes him up. Then he showers Jerry with kisses as the scene closes on Jerry's perplexed face.
This cartoon works so well because of many reasons. The first is that it still stays true to the other shorts while branching off into its own plot about the afterlife. The music also does an amazing job as usual, perfectly portraying the dire situation at hand without making it too dark.
What's most important is that unlike Blue Cat Blues, Heavenly Puss has lighthearted and funny moments, just like the other 113 shorts released in this era.
All of this is executed beautifully, but in the beginning, I made a comparison between it and Hatch Up Your Troubles, a similar episode in many ways but with Jerry as the star, not Tom.
It's not nearly as good in my opinion because it treats Tom as uncharacteristically cruel, doing stuff like trying to axe Jerry and drown the baby woodpecker in his stomach; whereas in Heavenly Puss, Tom's actions are part of a nightmare he has about how he treats Jerry, spotlighting that he doesn't want to kill him.
But more importantly, it isn't very funny by series standards and much, much slower-paced. I'll elaborate some time in the future, but Heavenly Puss, not Hatch Up Your Troubles, deserved the nomination in my opinion.
Tee for Two (1945)
Oh heck yeah
Tom and Jerry is my childhood favorite cartoon. It's still the best today, and Tee for Two is my absolute favorite short in the entire series. It's funny how amazingly golf pairs with the classic formula, so I may as well explain.
Tee for Two starts strong with its music piece perfectly capturing the energy of the rest of the cartoon, and it even leads into the first gag, Tom's crater-sized divot. He does get it out, where he meets Jerry in the hole he was shooting at. Jerry humiliates Tom, and then Tom hits him with a golf ball and forces the mouse to be his tee. What ensues is pure gold: the scene is perfectly used for gags that never get old, like the woodpecker egg Jerry uses to fool Tom and my favorite of them all, Tom trying to hit his ball between two skinny trees, only to be beheaded... then his body walks around like nothing happened! Classic stuff.
The music and animation are also superb as usual. The music especially stands out because golf is a quiet sport, but Scott Bradley captures the mood perfectly in spite of that.
Overall, Tee for Two is the gold standard of what you should expect from a Tom and Jerry cartoon. I won't be surprised if 30 years from now it's still my favorite. I'd give this 11 stars if it was an option.