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Sands of the Desert
Sands of the Desert
	Original UK quad poster
Directed by	John Paddy Carstairs
Written by	John Paddy Carstairs (screenplay); Charlie Drake (additional dialogue);
Story by	Anne Burnaby; Stafford Byrne; Robert Hall;
Produced by	Gordon Scott
Starring	Charlie Drake
Cinematography	Gilbert Taylor
Edited by	Richard Best
Music by	Stanley Black
Production; company	Associated British Picture Corporation
Distributed by	Warner-Pathé Distributors (UK)
Release date	8 September 1960 (UK);
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Sands of the Desert is a 1960 British adventure comedy film directed and written by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Charlie Drake (his first lead role in a feature film), Peter Arne, Sarah Branch and Raymond Huntley.^[1]

Plot

Charlie Sands, a British travel agent is sent to run a holiday camp in the Arabian Peninsula after his predecessor is assassinated because the property is sitting on a potential oilfield.

Cast

Charlie Drake as Charlie Sands
Peter Arne as Sheikh El Jabez
Sarah Branch as Janet Brown
Raymond Huntley as Bossom
Rebecca Dignam as Nerima
Peter Illing as Sheikh Ibrahim
Harold Kasket as Abdullah
Marne Maitland as advisor to sheikh
Neil McCarthy as Hassan
Derek Sydney as Mamud
Alan Tilvern as Mustafa
Martin Benson as Selin
Eric Pohlmann as Scrobin
Inia Te Wiata as Fahid
Paul Stassino as pilot
Beth Rogan as air hostess

Box office

Kine Weekly called it a "money maker" at the British box office in 1960.^[2]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Charlie Drake's original comedy talent, as exploited by his television shows, here vanishes beneath a heavy, studio-bound hash-up of slapstick and obvious jokes about sheikhs, harems and mirages. Unconvincing model work, a sentimental sub-plot and the wooden playing of the heroine are further insurmountable difficulties besetting the comedian's attempts to lighten the mixture by his impish mannerisms of gait and speech."^[3]

TV Guide described it as "a mildly amusing comedy that never really delivers its laugh quota, due primarily to its uneven script. Drake, a popular British television comic of the day, is good, though the movies are clearly not his metier."^[4]