Walt Disney rescues hand-drawn animation

[DancingBear]

WWII was only one factor that caused Walt compromises on quality. The Studio was always in financial troubles forcing product to be issued when Walt wanted to continue tweaking and changing. Mine is a purely theoretical question: If no compromises on quality were made, could the company have survived? Given the difficulties it was experiencing, pre-, during, and post-WWII I tend to doubt it.

Okay. I'm not sure of the point, though, when you apply it to today's Disney. Today's Disney has cash. So clearly they're making a choice to put out lesser quality product.

 

[Mickmse2002]

Okay. I'm not sure of the point, though, when you apply it to today's Disney. Today's Disney has cash. So clearly they're making a choice to put out lesser quality product.

The question I was asking, and will ask again now, is this:
If Walt had made the conscience decision to never compromise on quality, would his business have survived? Some posts have alluded to WWII having been the cause of his compromises, I don't agree. He made many of those same "quality compromises" before, during and after the war.

 

[raidermatt]

The question I was asking, and will ask again now, is this:
If Walt had made the conscience decision to never compromise on quality, would his business have survived? Some posts have alluded to WWII having been the cause of his compromises, I don't agree. He made many of those same "quality compromises" before, during and after the war.

First, yes, I grant that there were some compromises being made prior to the war years, but they were still out of necessity. During the war, no, I can't see how they would have been expected to produce better work. After the war, he was shifting his attention, but that doesn't mean it was a compromise in quality.

But yes, if Walt had never made those decisions, I don't think his company would have survived. They barely survived as it was.

Basically, he produced as high a quality of work that he could and still remain viable at any given time.

As long as we are only referring to his decisions in that context, I'm fine with it. If, however, we are trying to draw analogies to the Disney company of the last 20-25 years, that's another story, as DancingBear said.

 

[Mickmse2002]

Basically, he produced as high a quality of work that he could and still remain viable at any given time.

I do agree with this. These have been fun discussions, thanks!