All three of Bob Clampett's Tweety cartoons are well-worth seeing, A Tale of Two Kitties is very good though with a rather still-finding-its-feet feel occasionally, and Birdy and the Beast and especially A Gruesome Twosome are great and rank among Tweety's best ever cartoons.
Tweety himself is great here. While I've always tolerated him better than most, and enjoy most of the Sylvester and Tweety cartoons, he is much funnier, better utilised and cuter in his early cartoons. By the late 50s, he'd become little more than a plot device and become useless and annoying, but here he is hilarious, and not only does he look adorable even in 'development' stage but one really wishes that Freleng kept the refreshing anarchic personality that Clampett gave him(some of the early Freleng Tweety cartoons did, but it was completely lost by the mid-50s). The feline Jimmy Durante caricature is grotesque but brilliantly inspired, and his competitor is very endearing for a character as dumb as he is in comparison. The love interest is nothing new, but brings charm to the cartoon.
In A Gruesome Twosome, there is very little if at all to complain about the writing, which is very fresh and witty with Tweety's line being some of the funniest he's ever had which is saying a lot. The gags are very sharply timed and are often hysterically funny, violent they are but in a very fun way and not in a way that's sadistic. The story has so much charm and energy that the lack of originality conceptually is completely forgivable in this case, it isn't always with me but there are reservations depending on the execution. Mel Blanc as ever does an amazing job with the three main characters, bringing so much verve and individuality to each(which always was one of Blanc's strengths as a voice actor), and Bea Benaderet does very well too though not with as much to do.
Mustn't forget the animation or the music either, because both here are outstandingly good. The animation is beautifully drawn and colourful, and does contain some of the most inventive animation of any of Tweety's cartoons. The music is vibrant and characterful, with much of the orchestration being gorgeous and rhythmically the music has so much life. As always with Carl Stalling(with Milt Franklyn as orchestrator), the music matches the action and visuals so well and often adds to them.
In summary, brilliant, the best of the three Clampett-directed Tweety cartoons and one of Tweety's overall best as well. 10/10 Bethany Cox
