User Reviews

This documentary is more on the long history of this 600 year-old museum with it's heroic and scandal filled past than on its amazing collection. Well worth your time if you can find it, packed with interesting side stories about the building up, tearing down and expanding of this monstrous edifice packed with more beauty and treasure than any other square mile on earth! And oh yeah, the Mona Lisa, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Renoir, Michelangelo and tens of thousands of others!

This "art-tour" documentary (proudly showcasing the Louvre museum in Paris, France) is a 1964 production, making it now 54 years old.

Though dated - This particular presentation is historically relevant because this was the very first time that filming was ever permitted within the interior of the "World's Most Famous Museum".

Hosted and narrated by film actor, Charles Boyer - This is a 60-minute program that not only gives the viewer a comprehensive history of the Louvre (which officially opened its doors as a museum back in 1793) - But it also presents (for your viewing pleasure) many of the museum's most important and valuable works of art that belong in its vast collection, as well.

Once upon a time, The Louvre would not allow their treasures filmed. The high brow custodians barely tolerated the unwashed masses in to see the art. This is a TV special showcasing the museum, its history, and its treasures. It's fun to have the miniature museum being build and torn down over time. Today, it would be done with computers but with the miniature, one gets the feeling of being a royal builder. It's interesting to get the history. The art could be better highlighted but it's tough enough to get the camera inside. This is a TV special of its times.

The Louvre; What a wonderful, fun and informative romp through the 800 year history of the largest and greatest museum on the planet. And the film producers could not have gotten anyone more passionate and more appropriate than a lover of art, life and letters, the inimitable Charles Boyer who narrates this masterpiece. He agreed to narrate this film with the condition that he be allowed to narrate it as if he were making love to a beautiful woman. Such were the demands and character of Mr Boyer who indeed pulls this off admirably. The film is also sprinkled with many fascinating facts which makes the journey all the more interesting. One would have to visit the Louvre oneself to obtain a more complete history of this premier art institution. Many are unaware that the Louvre is not a "French" museum. It Is a "World" museum containing collections of art and artifacts bought and pillaged from around the world by the 800 years of French Aristocracy. At the Louvre you will see some of the greatest art masterpieces from the greatest countries and empires in the history of the world. Once you begin to learn of its history, you will appreciate the titanic effort the French committed to preserve its legacy and collections. I wholeheartedly recommend this film to those who contemplate visiting France and Paris as well as those who have been there many times like myself.

Merci