Calamity Jane (1953)

Traditional westerns were plentiful in the 1950s, but musical westerns were a rarer occurrence. Calamity's script lacks much in the way of originality and is almost painfully predictable, but the screen presence of Doris Day (as Calamity) and Allyn McLerie (as Katie Brown) go a long way in making a viewer forget all of that. Both women are superb, bringing a sunny and spirited lustre to what's an otherwise rather bland portrayal of Deadwood. The famous town serves as the setting for a film with showmanship and charms that have as much in common with Broadway and theatre as they do the cowboy genre.

3 whip crack-aways out of 5

The Day of the Triffids (1963)

After a fun beginning that resembles a public information film from a bygone era it settles into a formula that's best described as a slightly more sophisticated offspring of 1950s post-atomic films. Action is split between monster-time and scientist-time. The scientist, however, is at least flawed in some way, figuring himself out as he goes along.
It strays from the original John Wyndham novel (1951) often but with a certain level of charm that keeps my disgust at bay each time I watch it. There are even some genuinely effective Triffid POV shots to unsettle the weak.

3 uprooted things out of 5