Sands of the Desert | |
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Directed by | John Paddy Carstairs |
Written by |
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Story by |
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Produced by | Gordon Scott |
Starring | Charlie Drake |
Cinematography | Gilbert Taylor |
Edited by | Richard Best |
Music by | Stanley Black |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner-Pathé Distributors (UK) |
Release date |
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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]
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.
Kine Weekly called it a "money maker" at the British box office in 1960.[2]
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]