Have You Got Any Castles


Have You Got Any Castles is a 1938 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. The short was released on June 25, 1938. Characters from well-known works of literary fiction come to life inside of a library after hours.

Plot

When the cartoon opens, a cuckoo clock in a library sounds off, and the camera pans over the room, to a Town Crier who gives a brief introduction. When all performances begin, four monsters |Mr. Hyde], Fu Manchu, the Gossec's "Gavotte." As characters from other books applaud that performance, the protagonist of [The Good Earth">François Joseph Gossec">Gossec's "Gavotte." As characters from other books applaud that performance, the protagonist of [The Good Earth, his head the shape of a globe, says prayers by his bedside. The camera pans the library to the right, revealing the book The Invisible Man and an invisible man dancing, who hands off to Topper where a similar character continues a similar dance, then moves to The Thirty-Nine Steps where a caricature of "Bojangles" Robinson dances down the steps, So Big with a caricature of Greta Garbo, and The Green Pastures which turns out to feature a big band presentation of "Swing for Sale" led by a caricature of Cab Calloway. That clip was from the Friz Freleng short Clean Pastures.
Panning left over the cheering crowd, the camera reveals a singing Heidi on the cover of her eponymous book, a literal Thin Man when viewed from the side walking into the White House Cook Book and, when walking back out and seen from the side, shows that he has packed on some weight in his posterior. Whistler's Mother, on the cover of the book, Great Works of Art whistles "Ain't She Sweet", then three Little Women and three Little Men sing with "Old King Cole", the characters of The House of the Seven Gables, and a drumming bulldog intended to parody Bulldog Drummond. Next Louis Pasteur mixes chemicals from test tubes until they blow up, after which Pasteur is in Seventh Heaven. Also appearing is Captain William Bligh from Mutiny on the Bounty. This does not please a sleeping Rip Van Winkle, who complains, "Old King Cole is a noisy old soul", while using the Valiant Little Tailor's scissors to snip hair from the title character of Uncle Tom's Cabin to plug his ears.
The music gets louder, as The Three Musketeers sing the title song of the cartoon, with Drums Along the Mohawk providing a beat, Emily Post scolds Henry VIII of England for his rudeness, and a character from Katherine Mayo's controversial 1927 book Mother India plays along on his pungi. Then Rip again takes scissors from the Tailor and tries to use them once more on Uncle Tom; Tom beats him back then uses the scissors to cut Rip's beard. Then Diamond Jim Brady comes along pitching mortgage payments as the Drums beat louder, Henry becomes even more gluttonous, and Oliver Twist twists. W. C. Fields joins in, as does Ted Lewis as the The [Pied Piper of Hamelin|Pied Piper of Hamelin], leading mice with a jazzy tune on clarinet.
The Musketeers become Three Men on a Horse and, along the way grab the Seven Keys to Baldpate which they use to free the Prisoner of Zenda, over Aladdin's objections. Aladdin gets punched out by one of the Men. As the Three Men pass The Informer, he whispers to Little Boy Blue who then trumpets for a Charge of the Light Brigade |Charge of the Light Brigade]. Robinson Crusoe fires at the Three Men, along with guns from All Quiet on the Western Front and backup cavalry from Under Two Flags. The incessant noise disturbs Rip, who has had enough of trying to sleep and, as the battling, running characters approach, he opens The Hurricane, so that all of them end up Gone with the Wind, blown back to their own books.
After all performances terminate, the Town Crier appears again, concluding the cartoon with a brief message ending with "All is well, all is well...", and the camera pans back to the cuckoo clock where Rip, who has apparently muzzled the cuckoo SFX, is finally sound asleep as morning approaches.

Cast and Crew

;Voice Cast
;Crew