Tobacco Road (film) "Tobacco Road" was on the list of banned titles. Eventually, 20th Century Fox won the rights in August 1940, with RKO as its main competitor. It was believed that Fox won due to the success of "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940). They were the main preference of the copyright holders Erskine Caldwell and Jack Kirkland, who were reluctant to sell the rights unless the film "would be picturized honestly and fearlessly." Initially, Henry Hull was sought from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to reprise the main role previously portrayed on Broadway. However, in October 1940 he was revealed to be only in consideration, along
Tobacco Road (novel) John Ford, and the storyline was considerably altered. The novel was included in "Life" magazine's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924–1944. "Tobacco Road" is set in rural Georgia, several miles outside Augusta, Georgia during the worst years of the Great Depression. It depicts a family of poor white tenant farmers, the Lesters, as one of the many small Southern cotton farmers made redundant by the industrialization of production and the migration into cities. The main character of the novel is Jeeter Lester, an ignorant and sinful man who is redeemed by his love of the land and his