Tobacco Road (1941)

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BACKGROUND

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Erskine Caldwell’s novel Tobacco Road was first published in 1933 and was later adapted for the stage where it broke the record for the longest running play on Broadway. As soon as Ford saw the play he knew it would be a perfect fit for him and an ideal counterpoint to his stoic masterpiece of The Grapes of Wrath. 

 

Columbia Pictures had considered producing the novel in 1940 but found out it was on a list of banned books causing them to reconsider. RKO later contemplated casting Charles Laughton in the lead but came to recognize that he was not right for the part. Henry Hull who played the lead on Broadway was considered along with Walter Brennan and Henry Fonda but once Ford was signed on to direct he insisted on Charles Grapewin who was clearly born to play Jeeter Lester.

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PLOT SUMMARY

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A family of poor southern sharecroppers struggle to raise money to keep from being evicted from their derelict family farm.

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