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The Pledge (1981): Lord Dunsany’s Dark Highwayman Tale

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Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett — better known as Lord Dunsany — was one of the most influential early fantasy writers, inspiring authors from H. P. Lovecraft to J. R. R. Tolkien. Yet despite that influence, film adaptations of his work are surprisingly rare.

One of the few examples is The Pledge (1982), a dark short film directed by Digby Rumsey and based on Dunsany’s story “The Highwayman.”

Set in the grim world of eighteenth-century highway robbery, the film follows a group of criminals who make a promise to retrieve the body of their executed companion and give him a proper burial. What follows is a strange, macabre tale of loyalty, honour among thieves, and the unsettling realities of death in the age of the gibbet.

In this video we explore:

• Who Lord Dunsany was and why he mattered to fantasy literature
• The original short story “The Highwayman”
• The unusual 1981 film adaptation The Pledge

If you enjoy discussions of folk horror, weird fiction, obscure fantasy writers, and forgotten British films, you’re in the right place.

See 'The Pledge' here: https://youtu.be/Lz8AEHXeE5o

Subscribe to Who Gives A Folk? for more deep dives into strange cinema, folklore, and the darker corners of film history.

#LordDunsany
#FolkHorror
#Hiighwayman
#ForgottenFilms
#ClassicFantasy
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Highway Men
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