Tobacco Road (film) box office, and it had grossed up to $1.9 million by 1973. Tobacco Road (film) Tobacco Road is a 1941 film directed by John Ford and starring Charley Grapewin, Marjorie Rambeau, Gene Tierney, William Tracy Dana Andrews and Ward Bond. It was based on the novel of the same name by Erskine Caldwell, but the plot was rewritten for the film. Studios attempting to acquire the screen rights to the novel date back to 1933. RKO Pictures and Warner Bros. considered buying the rights, the first intending to assign Charles Laughton in the lead role, but were discouraged from doing
Tobacco Road (film) teeth in, if you have your teeth." While in production, "Tobacco Road" was thought to be received as even greater than "The Grapes of Wrath". Filming was initially set on location in Georgia, but to avoid any controversy, the studio decided in November 1940 that the film would be shot in the studio on closed sets. To further prevent the film from being banned before its release, there was no publicity. Despite the studio's concerns over the censorship, the film was only banned in Australia for unknown reasons. Although the film received mixed reviews, it became a success at the