Tobacco Road (film) 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 so. In March 1940, Columbia Pictures showed interest, but was informed that
High Road to China (novel) was replaced by Sidney Furie then eventually Brian G. Hutton. The novel was eventually filmed in 1983, with a large number of changes made, notably the removal of the German character. Cleary regarded the adaptation as one of the greatest disappointments in his career because he thought the book could have made "one of the great adventure films". High Road to China (novel) High Road to China is a 1977 novel by Australian author Jon Cleary. Set in the 1920s, the plot concerns heiress Eve Tozer who hires two pilots to help her fly from England to China in an