Watch The Art of the Steal For Free

Absolutely the worst movie.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This documentary, while reasonably well-made and engaging, is essentially a piece of agitprop. It was produced and directed by, and stars, the loose connection of former Barnes teachers and other Friends of the Barnes who opposed the reorganization and relocation of the Barnes Museum of early modern masterpieces to downtown Philadelphia. Sure, politics was played and facts may have been concealed, but the counterargument for not moving the museum and opening it more broadly to the public never really surfaces in this film. The Barnes was undercapitalized, the last of the original trustees had passed, the trust beneficiary, a struggling state college, did not want manage it actively, the residential neighbors in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania were crying "NIMBY" over the arrival of busloads of out-of-state visitors, and there were no living lineal descendants of the trustor, a quirky pharma pioneer described in the film as a "misanthrope," who died in a 1951 automobile accident at the wheel of his old Packard convertible. The art collection was literally and figuratively orphaned. No wonder the case was brought in Orphans Court.The film convinced me, but it convinced me only to visit Philadelphia and take in the art collection in its new downtown home.

In the eleventh hour Merion township forgets it's gripes about bus traffic and realizes it might lose something valuable. After forbidding the Museum to build a 56 car parking lot in a very petty fashion the neighbors of the foundation are portrayed as victims of the move at the end of the movie. I'm sorry. Glanton may be a clod, but he was forestalling what turned out to be the inevitable move of the collection to Philadelphia. Would you rather have the art tour the world temporarily or have it moved permanently to Philadelphia? When you don't bend you break. This is a very sad loss, but I can't help feel that there is no righteous side in this saga. Poor Merion? You mismanaged your asset, ditto Lincoln University. It's sad that there was no brilliant person to manage the estate and oversee it's protection. Incompetence loses to a powerful people with tourist dollars in their eyes.

I enjoyed this -- knowing nothing at all about the subject before I watched the film. I don't think there's any doubt that the big-money came in and purchased the result it wanted, in conjunction with the affable Ed Rendell, who could make about anything seem reasonable. But -- the inaccessibility of the collection does seem to be an issue that the film did not really address. What about transportation? Parking? The impact of a density of visitors on a residential neighborhood? The film did not resolve these issues. A highhanded 'theft' may actually be in the interests of the greater number of people. One flaw in the design of the film is that -- having presented early on the vigorous objections of the neighbors in Merion to the crowds and buses coming down the residential roads to the Barnes -- Argott did not go back to them for their reaction to the move to the city. What did they think of that? We never know.

Dr. Albert C.Barnes was one of the richest men in America in the late 19th century/early 20th century,after William Randolf Hurst,and others. He became as rich as he was by inventing a treatment for VD (now known as sexually transmitted diseases). With the money he earned,he started collecting art (mainly classical,but some modern art as well). To house all of that art,he started the Barnes Foundation. Albert Barnes also had his dark side:he held a burning grudge toward the city of Philadelphia,so much that he housed his art in a large building,in the guise of an art school,only allowing the students to view the works (mainly as an artistic level,and absolutely not for any kind of monetary reasoning). This did not sit well with the powers that be (in this case,the powerful Annenburg empire,whom Barnes detested with a passion,as well as Philadelphia's museum). After Barnes'death in 1951, the collection fell into the hands of various owners,each with a hidden agenda of their own (including,but not limited to Philadelphia's Lincoln University). The various talking heads that populate this film tell their own take on the who's,what's,when's,where's & why's all of this came to an ugly head,over a period of 50 plus years,until the Barnes collection did eventually find a permanent home in downtown Philadelphia. Don Argot directs & photographs this film,which some have called a one-sided argument for the ownership & control of art (as a business). Not rated by the MPAA,this film contains occasional outbursts of strong language,but is okay for older teenagers that are interested in art.