Important film by the legendary director John Ford and the even more legendary producer Darryl F. Zanuck, "Tobacco Road" is undoubtely well-made, with a bountyful photography and and an interesting theme on its background: the struggles of an impoverished family of farmers in the South of the United States. The wonderful Gene Tierney, in one of her first movie acting roles, is perhaps a little miscasted (it would happen to her again), as she is portrayed as a slightly outwitted daughter of the Lester family.
And that leads us to the main problem of the film, in my opinion: if you, like I am, are quite unfamiliar and unwilling to cope with a plot and acting in which all of the characters - all of them - are depicted simply as idiots, and doing idiotic things most of the time (let's except, say, 2-3 minutes), then "Tobacco road" is probabily not your cup of tea.
And that leads us to the main problem of the film, in my opinion: if you, like I am, are quite unfamiliar and unwilling to cope with a plot and acting in which all of the characters - all of them - are depicted simply as idiots, and doing idiotic things most of the time (let's except, say, 2-3 minutes), then "Tobacco road" is probabily not your cup of tea.