The Purple Plain the three men struggle to survive in the hostile environment, the self-destructive Bill finally realises that he can depend on support from others and that he may have someone to live for. Blore, however, abandons them to attempt to return to the crash site and commits suicide. "The Purple Plain" is regarded generally as historically accurate with good production values and attention to detail, and depicts the native Burmese in a respectful manner. The film is based on the 1947 novel "The Purple Plain" by H. E. Bates, one of three novels he wrote after his travels to Burma and
Scott Darling (screenwriter) away from Christie Films with the promise of an opportunity to direct in addition to writing screenplays. While adaptations from other works was Darling's forte, between 1922 and 1928 at Universal he directed 27 silent films and wrote 40 screenplays. With the advent of sound film, he easily adapted to creating dialogue and wrote scripts for early "talkies" such as Fox's "Trent's Last Case" (1929) based on the E. C. Bentley novel and directed by Howard Hawks. Six years after directing his last silent film, Darling tried his hand at directing a sound film in the United Kingdom but was