Bandits En Automobile - Episode 1: The Gray Car Gang(1912)

Bandits En Automobile is a 1913 French crime film directed by Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset, a pioneering filmmaker known for inventing the serial format. The film draws directly from the real-life siege of Jules Bonnot's Gang near Paris in 1912, recreating the violent exploits of dangerous automobile bandits who terrorized the French countryside. Jasset's visceral approach to the material—combining action, suspense, and documentary-like realism—made the film immediately recognizable to contemporary audiences, who saw echoes of the actual criminals on screen. The resemblance was so striking that authorities banned the picture in many French cities. Though Jasset's prolific output spanned all genres, his crime and detective work established him as a master of early serial cinema before his death in 1913.