Have You Got Any Castles? (1938) User Reviews

Who said that literature should be boring?

[matlefebvre20 · 8/10 · 6 May 2006]

If cartoon characters can interact with each other in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", why not literary characters? Instead of producing another wacky cartoon about Bugs Bunny, Tweety or another silly character, Merry Melodies did a wise move in crafting a musical/short story about book characters.

Opening with a dance number with Mr. Hyde, Fu Man Chu, the Phantom of the Opera and Frankenstein, it next moves to Green Pastures, Old King Cole, Louis Pasteur, Mutiny on the Bounty, Heidi etc. etc.

But the interaction is also interesting. For example, Thin Man becomes fat after visiting a cook book, Rip Van Winkle tries to prevent himself from hearing Old King Cole...

After that, a plot develops: the Three Musketeers steal the 7 keys to Baldpate in order to free the Prisoner of Zenda. They are instantly chased and they have to flee from the cannons of the Light Brigade, Robinson Crusoe and All Quiet on the Western Front. Ultimately, Rip Van Winkle blows everybody with a Hurricane and it's all Gone With the Wind...

I can't stop myself from watching it, because it's simply a highly imaginative and entertaining musical story and it's funnier than some Disney and Looney Tunes cartoons. I (disappointingly) think that it's the kind of story that we won't find in today's children's videos and for a long time, if it's not for ever. It's desolating, because it's some great stuff.

A bit offensive and not all that funny but for a 30s cartoon, it's still better than average.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 4 September 2012]

Before this short begins, there is a little written prologue about the racist nature of some of the humor in the film--as a sort of warning. I appreciate this instead of just censoring or hiding the film, as it IS a part of our history (for good or bad).

The color in this film is quite nice--vivid and better than the average 30s cartoon. What follows are a long series of mostly lame jokes where books come to life--with characters coming off the pages. The Asian and Black characters are a bit overdone (especially with the large-lipped Black cartoon characters), though compared to a lot of the images of Blacks in films of the time, this is relatively benign. I am not excusing it--but it could have been and often was a lot worse! Unfortunately, despite a clever idea and nice animation, I must also admit that most of the jokes weren't that funny and there was too much singing. On the plus side, however, there were lots of references to famous Hollywood films and actors, so lovers of classic Hollywood will probably enjoy this more than the average viewer. Not great but compared to the average cartoon of the 1930s, this is actually a bit better than average. Cartoons of the 40s would evolve for the better--with far less singing, better laughs and an edge--all which are problems with "Have You Got Any Castles?".

"So Big" actress caricature

[RWlkrSmith · 6/10 · 16 May 2006]

A previous reviewer wrote "The reference to Ferber's "So Big" makes fun of a vain actress. (I'm not positive about that caricature. Katharine Hepburn perhaps? She had been box office poison for some time.)"

That was Greta Garbo. The urban legend about the size of her feet was current at the time, and several of these shorts (e.g., Hollywood Steps Out) reference that.

The part about these 'topical' shorts that surprises me - my nine year old son, who has NO idea who any of these people are, watches these with almost as much enjoyment as the more timeless episodes. Some of the bits - Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson tap dancing up The 39 Steps, or the hideously dated images in the Cab Calloway sequence - which may strike him as offensive in years to come, just blend in with the rest for him right now.

A thumbnail sketch of the typical 1938 moviegoer

[Varlaam · 22 May 1999]

As entertainment, this cartoon is really just a sequence of throwaway gags. Characters from literature and popular fiction participate in a series of mostly bad visual puns. That's the premise. The cartoon's interest actually lies elsewhere.

While we're ostensibly seeing a parody of great books, nearly every book referred to had been a film a few years prior to the release of the cartoon.

A few of the references unmistakably caricature the star of the earlier film: William Powell in "The Thin Man" series, Paul Muni in "The Story of Louis Pasteur", Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh, Edward Arnold as "Diamond Jim" Brady, Victor McLaglen as "The Informer".

Some of the gags have no real connection to the book and film: Heidi sings like Cab Calloway (hey, "Hi-De-Ho"). (And a movie audience of smirking hepcats would rather hear zoot-suited Cab than precocious Shirley Temple, anyway.) The reference to Ferber's "So Big" makes fun of a vain actress. (I'm not positive about that caricature. Katharine Hepburn perhaps? She had been box office poison for some time.) "So Red the Rose" is retitled "Nose" for a "poke" at W.C. Fields. That's not irreverent; that's an obvious buttress for his profitable screen persona.

It's plain to see that books as such are secondary. The jokes in effect are affirming a smug moviegoer's inexperience with actual literature by only showing what had been processed, and pasteurized, at the Hollywood film factory.

So we are really given a glimpse at what had succeeded in making an impression on the popular culture by 1938. As far as I can see, the films honoured by inclusion are all recent products of the studio system, with only a few exceptions.

One clearly British film is alluded to, "The 39 Steps" (1935). Does that imply that Hitchcock was making a real impact on the American mass market? Certainly Hitch came over to the States not long after 1938 (and he had made "Sabotage" in 1936 with an imported U.S. cast).

There is also what I take as a direct reference to the banquet scene from Alexander Korda's "The Private Life of Henry VIII" (1933). Henry Tudor may have been corpulent but he was noted more for his wives than for his feasting, which is why I think the brief reference to Henry evokes this film. Was Korda's film well known in its own right? Or was it simply due to the presence of Laughton, the only person seemingly parodied twice in this cartoon, once allusively in this British film, and once explicitly in "Mutiny on the Bounty", an American film?

Only one silent film unequivocally finds a place here. That's the Lon Chaney "Phantom of the Opera" from 1925, specifically its Masque of the Red Death episode with the Chaney character wearing his striking skull mask. Does that represent the fullest extent of the memories of 1938 picture show patrons?

There are a couple of books whose cinematic incarnations are not all that impressive on their own, and which cannot reasonably account for the books' inclusion here in pastiche form. Therefore one can conclude that "Robinson Crusoe" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" were books that people were aware of as books. But the list really is that short. Hawthorne's "House of the Seven Gables" is here too. It had not been a film within recent memory. One suspects strongly that the pun potential was too great to let that one get away, not that Hawthorne was cresting a wave of popular adulation at the time.

Otherwise, practically the only book mentioned which had *never* been made into a movie was "Gone With The Wind". Hmm, is there any chance that that book became a popular film AFTER 1938?

In fact, was the Margaret Mitchell book slated for production already by that year? Surely the rights had been sold by then. The book was published in 1936 and was a phenomenon from the outset, a veritable Wirtschaftswunder, a happenstance hapax legomenon. Yeah, it was a popular read alright. So including it here with the other books would represent a foregone conclusion; there would definitely have to be a film sooner or later, and probably sooner.

John Ford's "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1939) may also fall into this category of publishing successes coming soon to a theatre near you. Cartoonists read the industry scuttlebutt in Variety too.

(Try this on for size: "Ub drubs pubs' flubs". (Hey, you think it's easy thinking up bogus Variety headlines? Just try it!) Interpret that as, "Animator lampoons foolish books".)

In conclusion then, I would characterize this unusual cartoon as a notable historical curiosity which should happen to have broad appeal for film buffs. It allows us to exercise our arcane movie knowledge. (Or should that be exorcise?)

A Clever Idea

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 26 January 2019]

The idea of using the books in a library to infuse characters into a plot is full of possibilities. I was a bit disappointed in the result, although there are some decent moments. Most of the books that are featured are based on well-known movies, using the actors that played those parts as caricatures. For instance, William Powell is the thin man (and he is really thin). Where it bogs down is when the musical numbers have nothing to do with the books.

Legend has it that the titles of 43 . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 12 April 2016]

. . . Warner Bros. live-action feature films are embedded in this seven-minute-long animated short, HAVE YOU GOT ANY CASTLES? Despite this fact, not ALL of the books OR characters referenced here called producer Jack L. Warner "Daddy." For instance, that mendacious melodrama GONE WITH THE WIND is famously MGM property, and the House of Horror--Universal Studios--churned out the early versions of FU MANCHU and FRANKENSTEIN. Every Hollywood film outfit probably cranked away at various editions of Louisa May Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN and LITTLE MEN, and Alexandre Dumas' THE THREE MUSKATEERS, since they all hailed from the Public Domain. On the other hand, BULLDOG "Drumming" DRUMMOND, THE THIN MAN, THE GOOD EARTH, THE LIFE OF LOUIS PASTEUR, TOPPER, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, and THE 39 STEPS were all more recent literary efforts likely to be the property of one specific film studio (most often Warner here, of course). But I'm not sure that Shirley Temple ever belted out a "HEIDI Ho!," or that the THIN MAN ever filled out his rump from a White House Cookbook!

A Real Treasure For Movie Fans of The '30s

[ccthemovieman-1 · 10/10 · 16 April 2007]

The "town crier" inside a warm house on a snowy winter night dazzles us with his vocabulary, introducing us to various literature characters who come to life in this home's big library.

Most of the characters were people seen on screen in the mid '30s, actors like Paul Muni (The Story of Louis Pasteur) or Williams Powell (Nick Charles of The Thin Man fame) or, well.....there are so many I'm not going to list them all. It starts with four horror stories: Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, Fu Manchu, The Phantom of the Opera and Frankenstein and runs the game to Topper, the Invisible Man, The Good Earth, The 39 Steps, on and on and on. We see dancers and singers like Bill Robinson and Cab Calloway represent some of the titles.

With all the jokes and sight gags poured into this, you get a lot of silly, stupid, clever and funny, some of it depending on how familiar you are with the characters, and how much you enjoy puns.

My personal opinion would involve three "c words" - clever, cute and colorful. Having seen almost all of those classic films, I thought this was a lot of fun to watch.

Have You Got Any Castles? was a pretty entertaining Merrie Melodie cartoon

[tavm · 7/10 · 6 February 2015]

Just rewatched this Merrie Melodies cartoon on the Varsity Show DVD. It has the characters on the book covers in a big shelf full of them coming to life, often in the caricatures of the film actors that portrayed them. It also had some black characters portrayed with big lips which is considered offensive today so kudos to Warner Bros. for including a disclaimer to that effect. Quite musically pleasing and a bit funny in some scenes concerning the film stars being drawn. Frank Tashlin was one of the most creative animation directors at the time and he's done well with something like this. So on that note, I recommend Have You Got Any Castles?

Very clever and colourful take on the literary classics

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 16 January 2010]

I absolutely love this cartoon. It is engaging, it is colourful and it is extremely clever. It is enormous fun spotting all the literary references such as Heidi (who does sing like Cab Calloway), The Three Musketeers and The Thin Man, references to Frankenstein, Fu Manchu, Mr Hyde and Phantom of the Opera(the beginning was hilarious, it isn't everyday when you see monsters such as Fu Manchu dancing to Gossec's Gavotte) and the caricatures of Charles Laughton, William Powell, Greta Garbo and Paul Muni. The animation is spotless, the music is fabulous and the voice work is top notch. The gags and puns come fast and the cartoon is loaded to the brim with them. Who cares whether it is plot less, it is amazing to look at, it is entertaining and very clever. 10/10 Bethany Cox

we're all booked since then

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 27 November 2006]

One of the first things that I noticed about "Have You Got Any Castles?" was the racist portrayals of certain characters (Fu Manchu, Uncle Tom's Cabin). Other than that, it was a pretty neat entry in the "books come alive" genre. A previous reviewer noted that most of the books portrayed in this cartoon are books that had recently been turned into movies when the cartoon came out, and the characters in the books resemble the actors from their respective movies (Charles Laughton in "Mutiny on the Bounty", Victor McLaglen in "The Informer", etc). It was probably intended to appeal more to the movie-going audience than to bookworms. But of course, isn't it easier just to watch the movie than to read the book? Thinking about this cartoon in its historical context, I can't help but imagine what it would look like nowadays. Many of the novels portrayed would be pretty grim (e.g., anything by Stephen King), and there might be a number of political books, cookbooks, self-help books and foreign language dictionaries. Out of "The Shining", Jack Nicholson would chop a hole in a door and say "Here's Johnny!"; out of the James Bond novels, Sean Connery would bed the world's hottest babes; and then there would be Noam Chomsky's various books about US-foreign policy. Go figure! Anyway, it's a cartoon worth seeing. So is "Book Revue", starring Daffy Duck.

it is what it is

[movieman_kev · 5/10 · 31 October 2005]

Another of the 'books are alive' shorts, perhaps it's having just watched Robert Clampetts' superb "Book Revue" short, but I found this one to be still a bit amusing, but somewhat bland. The rapid fire gags were there in spades, but the whole thing just seemed to be missing the manic energy of a typical Looney Tunes short, and therefor felt a bit lifeless and just a tad stale to me. It still remains watchable, but lacks the spark that makes it stand out in any way, shape, or form. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.

My Grade: C

One of the best in a long line of "books (or magazines) come to life" shorts by Waner Brothers

[llltdesq · 10/10 · 2 August 2005]

There's a great deal to say about this short and some detail is necessary, so spoilers are ahead.

This short is an excellent example of a type of cartoon that Warner Brothers did very effectively: Characters from books and/or magazines coming to life or being used as part of a sight gag. Generally set in a bookstore, the first done was Three's a Crowd, done in 1933.

Castles originally featured a caricature of Alexander Wollcott doing an opening and a close as the "Town Crier", but the studio heads were afraid Wollcott might take offense and the framing sequences were removed. Caricatures were a staple of animation by this point and Castles features a number of them.

Why did the animators do these type of cartoons? I suspect it was because it gave them the advantage of using material that would be very familiar to the audience on at least two levels: books that were familiar to a fairly well-read public (or magazine titles familiar to that same public) as well as a visual connection, given that many of these books had also been made into films. Given that animation is a very visual medium by it's nature, audience familiarity with titles and faces allowed the animators to fire dozens of short sight gags at the audience in a short time-frame. Audience recognition of W.C Fields or Greta Garbo, coupled with wide familiarity with books like So Red the Rose and So Big makes the gags work in different ways for different viewers. They did these for the same reason books were adapted into films: audience familiarity with the subject matter. Studios routinely optioned film rights to best-selling books on the not unsound theory that someone who read the book and liked it would pay to see a film version as well. Back in the 1930s, the four principle forms of entertainment were radio, movies, reading and music. Cartoons strip-mined all four for material and Warner's did this superbly. They even re-used themselves on occasion, including a bit in Castles that was first used in Clean Pastures and is used here ("Swing For Sale").

This short is in print on Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Vol. 2, with the original Wollcott framing sequences included. Highly recommended.

Have You Got Any Castles

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 17 March 2024]

A rather annoying cuckoo clock summons us all to the town crier who rather monotonically introduces us to figures from fictional history. Amongst them are "Fu Manchu", "Frankenstein" and "Dr. Jekyll" - but they are not so menacing after all as they indulge in something akin to the dance of the "Sugar Plum Fairy". That's the start of our ensuing jolly and quite innovative trawl through a library of books that gives the animators an excuse to use the titles as some creative inspiration for the drawings and for the musicians to imaginatively score along to, too. I especially liked "Whistler's Mother", "Bulldog Drummin" and that has to be Charles Laughton on the front of "Mutiny on the Bounty"... Do we get to castles? Well not really - but that doesn't seem to matter as the snake charmers and even Henry VIII get in on the act. Who knew little boy actually blew!!?

Warner Brothers have produced some of the most timeless cartoons in the history of animation; this isn't one of them.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 29 September 2011]

A virtually plot-less Warner Brothers animated short from 1938, 'Have You Got Any Castles?' takes place in a library on a snowy night, where classic characters from an eclectic selection of books come alive to sing, dance and fight.

The only thing stranger about this cartoon than it being an extra on my DVD of Sonny Chiba's The Street Fighter is the praise it gets from virtually everyone here on IMDb. They seem to find 'Have You Got Any Castles?' utterly charming and very amusing, whereas I found it to be terribly dated, nauseatingly twee, and fairly dull, with nasty characterisation (including several cruel racial stereotypes), predictable puns, and 'topical' jokes that might amuse avid fans of 30s film and popular literature, but which will probably leave many of today's viewers wondering what the fuss is all about.

Legend, history, fiction, and fantasy

[slymusic · 22 July 2009]

"Have You Got Any Castles" is a wonderful Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. It's another one of those "book characters coming to life" cartoons, featuring tons of great sight gags, caricatures, and puns.

My favorite scenes in this cartoon include the following. There is an excellent caricature of singer/bandleader Cab Calloway ("Mr. Hi-De-Ho") and his heavenly orchestra performing some hot jazz. The Three Musketeers sing the title song "Have You Got Any Castles, Baby?" while Emily Host (Post) in her famous Book of Etiquette scolds the porcine table manners of Henry the Eighth. Four sinister characters (Mr. Hyde, Fu Manchu, Frankenstein's monster, and a skeleton) engage in a light, friendly dance.

"Have You Got Any Castles" is a lot of fun to watch. Find it on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 Disc 4.

Have You Got Any Castles?

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 23 May 2021]

This is the kind of cartoon that would have influenced Chuck Jones.

Books come to life with its title characters.

So Dr Jekyll, Fu Manchu, The Phantom of the Opera and Frankenstein start it off with a little song and dance routine.

The Thin Man shows up. Later it is the turn of The Invisible Man and Topper.

You have to be familiar with the 1930s references. So The Informer look like Victor McLaglen. Heidi sings a song in the style of Cab Calloway. The House of the Seven Gables are Clark Gable.

It is rather clever and amusing although some of the references are of its time.

Disney inspired but far funnier than the average Disney

[phantom_tollbooth · 8/10 · 1 October 2008]

One of the books-come-to-life series of cartoons that peaked with Bob Clampett's 'Book Revue', 'Have You Got Any Castles?' is a strong and extremely handsome piece of work. Much of the credit must go to underrated director Frank Tashlin whose work on this short is superb. At this early stage in their history, the Merrie Melodies cartoons were seen as prestige efforts attempting to rival the success of the bigger budget Disney Silly Symphony shorts, often by emulating them. The gorgeous look of 'Have You Got Any Castles?' owes something to Disney but Tashlin's cartoon has much better gags than the average Disney short. 'Have You Got Any Castles?' is essentially plot less yet Tashlin keeps us engaged throughout with some inspired gags (my favourite being the Heidi gag) and beautiful animation. As with most early Merrie Melodies, 'Have You Got Any Castles?' revolves around music which can often be a nail in the coffin of these early era cartoons. Fortunately, 'Have You Got Any Castles?' is deftly executed. It could hardly be more different from Clampett's 'Book Revue' in terms of pacing and animation style but it's worth noting that the Clampett cartoon does borrow some ideas from this one. 'Have You Got Any Castles?' is far from what would become the recognisable Warner Bros. style but it manages to be hugely entertaining on its own merits, trumping the majority of Disney shorts from which it takes a degree of influence.

Old classic

[RoamingTigress · 10/10 · 31 May 2008]

I have always loved this short, ever since I was a little girl. I had a copy of it on VHS along with a few others, but this one was always my favorite. I was very disenhearted when my father donated the VHS that this short was on to the library, as he felt then 11 year old me was "too old" for cartoons. After many years of having not seen it, however, I was tickled when I found it in a DVD set. I enjoyed it as much as I did then, if not more so.

I would recommend "Have You Got Any Castles" to anyone. It is cleverly put together and well done, and the caricatures are spot on. The animation is colourful and very well done, with more creativity put into this than many modern animated features today.

Highly Entertaining MM Short

[Michael_Elliott · 20 October 2009]

Have You Got Any Castles? (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Extremely entertaining Merrie Melodies short has a familiar plot but it's taken to the limit here. The animated film pretty much takes place on a book shelf as various forms of literature comes to life. We get various stories including Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The House of Seven "Gables", So Big, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Little Women, The Thin Man, The Good Earth and countless others. The animation is quite good throughout this short with a lot of great attention to various details. There are a few Hollywood celebs who make appearances here including W.C. Fields and a funny spoof with Clark Gable. Mel Blanc does fine work in the form of several of the characters but we'd come to expect nothing less. What really makes this film stand apart from countless others that tried the same story is the actual music, which is incredibly entertaining. Carl W. Stalling and Milt Franklyn hit all the right notes and really keep the action moving. Everything mixed together makes this one of the better ways to tell this familiar stories so fans of animation or any of the books mentioned should have a grand time.