Have You Got Any Castles? (1938)

Director:

Frank Tashlin

Writer:

Jack Miller (story)

Release Date:

25 June 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Musical | Animation | Short | Comedy

Plot:

Another entry in the "books come alive" subgenre, with possibly more books coming alive than any other...

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Musketeer | Singing | Books Come Alive | Question In Title

Cast

Mel Blanc	...	Town Crier / Praying Baby / Rip Van Winkle / Emily Host / Alladin (voice) (uncredited)
The Four Blackbirds	...	Vocal Group (archive sound) (uncredited)
Delos Jewkes	...	Old King Cole (voice) (uncredited)
Tedd Pierce	...	W. C. Fields (voice) (uncredited)
Georgia Stark	...	Whistler's Mother (voice) (uncredited)

Also Known As:

Have You Got Any Castles (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

7 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (MPPDA #4264) | UK:U | Canada:G (Nova Scotia)

Company:

Leon Schlesinger Studios

Trivia:

The globe on the cover of Pearl Buck's book "The Good Earth" requests blessings for people in his family, including "Papa Leon and Uncle Ray." This is in reference to Leon Schlesinger, who was the executive producer of the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons up until 1944, and Raymond Katz, Schlesinger's brother-in-law, who also worked in the cartoon studio.

Quotes:

Rip Van Winkle: Old King Cole is a noisy old soul.

Movie Connections:

References The Three Musketeers (1935)

Soundtrack:

Have You Got Any Castles, Baby?

Old classic

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.