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." [4]
Leslie Halliwell wrote "Limp star comedy with poor studio work and meandering script." [5]
In The Radio Times Guide to Films David Parkinson gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "Poor old Charlie Drake. To call his flirtation with film fame and unmitigated disaster, would be understating the extent which he failed to translate his stage, radio and TV success to the big screen. Director John Paddy Carstairs also who wrote this silly story in which travel agent Drakes sets out to uncover the saboteur at a holiday camp. Better than his other efforts, but that's not saying much." [6]
Variety wrote: "Color and lensing is good, but the editing, as so often in this sort of film where one situation rarely leads to another, is often erratic. "Desert" will do okay with undiscriminating audiences, but Drake might have been well advised to have thinned down on his role until he has gained greater big screen experience." [7]
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." [8]
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