Alf Collins was a London stage comic who transferred to the fledgling movie industry as a director, and became an expert in chases. Here's an early example as a young couple elopes in an automobile and her papa gives chase in his. I'm very hesitant to accept claims of cinematic firsts, but this came off the Library of Congress site, where it was claimed "it may be the first car chase in the movies." I can't think of any earlier off hand and await others to write in, challenging that modest claim, excluding races. Any earlier auto chases will be appended to the bottom of this review.
It's a beautifully shot film for 1903, with an extreme close-up, trucking shots and panning shots -- including a couple of pans that move so rapidly that they would qualify as whip pans. In the hands of a later, more subjective director like Louis Feuillade, they might offer a subjective, auctorial point of view. Here, it just seems like a fast way of getting from one plot point to another.
