The Bold Bank Robbery (1904): earliest use of the "getaway car"?
Channel: 0equals1
Date: 2016-12-31

NEW! (8/20/2018) To see a few clues on the action (taken from the Lubin catalog's synopsis), make sure Closed Captions (CC) is turned on.

Outlaws' version at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvWN6sedIo8

Assault, carjacking, armed robbery - then the action starts...

This is not usually cited as a significant or influential film. Yet it contains a number of elements that were not commonly found in films at that time, but later were widely used: 

- "Heist film" elements, including an impressive innovation: possibly the earliest known film use of the "getaway car" (7 years before The Bonnot Gang!)
- "Bookends" as a framing device
- Birth of the "Gentleman Thief" film
- Towards the visual style of expressionism and noir

For a detailed discussion of these elements, see: 
 http://headcity.com/follies/films/silent/bold-bank-robbery--legacy.html

Apart from the surprise opening (to me, at least - none of the reviews I've seen mentioned the unusual opening), the payoff here is the extended chase scene. This lamster was not going down easy, and he had all the right slick moves to get him through - if only he rode the train like he rode the streetcar...

Note: As with most early films, there are no intertitles. While the film is sufficiently straightforward to be appreciated on its own on first viewing, subsequent viewing is enhanced by knowing elements of the story that are not evident, but provided by the Lubin catalog detailed description at AFI: http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=1&Movie=32474

Jack Frawley (writer/cinematographer/director)
Siegmund Lubin (producer)
Unknown cast
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bold_Bank_Robbery

Video source: https://archive.org/details/thefirsttwentyyearspart2019041909
Unfortunately, the print is in quite poor condition. Any leads to a better source would be greatly appreciated!

Music loops boldly robbed from: 
Camille Saint-Saëns' "Danse macabre" (1874), by Kevin MacLeod
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Classical_Sampler/Danse_Macabre
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.