Guy Green was a leading British cameraman (Great Expectations, Oliver Twist) who, when he became a director, rather lost his way. In this Second World War action adventure, a desert patrol of British stalwarts (Richard Attenborough, John Gregson, Michael Craig) is sent behind enemy lines to blow up an Axis fuel dump before the battle of El Alamein. Green handles the macho elements with credibility, but the sentimentality that finally consigned him to directing weepies proves to be an irritating distraction.

A small British army team is sent deep behind enemy lines to destroy a German petrol dump as part of the preparation for a major attack in the North African campaign. Sea of Sand was distributed in the US in a shortened version, Desert Patrol.