Sands of the Desert

{{Infobox film

| name = Sands of the Desert

| image = "Sands_of_the_Desert"_(1960).jpg

| caption = Original UK quad poster

| director = John Paddy Carstairs

| producer = Gordon Scott

| writer = {{ubl|John Paddy Carstairs (screenplay)|Charlie Drake (additional dialogue)}}

| story = {{ubl|Anne Burnaby|Stafford Byrne|Robert Hall}}

| narrator =

| starring = Charlie Drake

| music = Stanley Black

| cinematography = Gilbert Taylor

| editing = Richard Best

| studio = Associated British Picture Corporation

| distributor = Warner-Pathé Distributors (UK)

| released = {{Film date|1960|09|08|UK|df=yes}}

| runtime = 92 minutes

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| budget =

}}

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.{{cite web |title=Sands of the Desert (1960) |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/65369 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114172658/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/65369 |archive-date=2009-01-14 |work=BFI}}

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

{{cast listing|

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.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_kine-weekly_1960-12-15_523_2776/page/n7/mode/1up|last=Billings|first=Josh|magazine=Kine Weekly|date=15 December 1960|page=9|title=It's Britain 1, 2, 3 again in the 1960 box office stakes}}

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."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1960 |title=Sands of the Desert |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305820721 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=27 |issue=312 |pages=131 |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}}

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."{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/movies/sands-of-the-desert/review/116754/|title=Sands Of The Desert|work=TVGuide.com}}