Tobacco Road (1941)

Charley Grapewin's "Jeeter" is the epitome of the collapsed grandeur of the once prosperous tobacco road in Georgia. Formerly the hub of cotton and tobacco growing, it's now largely dilapidated with those left scrounging and scraping to make any kind of living. Until now, they have been fortunate as the last major landowner had given them the rights to live on the land, but just as his son "Capt. Tim" (Dana Andrews) arrives so does the bank in the form of manager "Payne" (Grant Mitchell) who informs them all that unless he can raise a rent of $100 per annum, they are going to redevelop the properties. It turns out that the captain is just as broke as the farmers, so they have to find a way to raise the cash or be prepared to move on. There's one possible solution, though. The not-so-angelically voiced "Bessie" (Marjorie Rambeau) might just be able to scrape together the cash from a recent life insurance payout to float them for long enough for the erstwhile disparate family to start planting/picking again. Then again, maybe she will just marry "Dude" (William Tracy) and buy him a new car? It's quite a fun ensemble effort this that certainly plays to rather dumb stereotype at times, but still allows Grapewin to rule the roost engagingly whilst Gene Tierney's "Ellie May" gets herself into all sorts of scrapes trying not to be a pawn in a daft marriage game. It flows along quite naturally with some light-heartedness to underpin the clear message that this is an industry left to die by a government little interested in the affairs of these plantations or their residents. You'll never remember it, but it's an easy enough watch.