Unlike Noir City, where Eddie Muller picks a theme and will search for some commonalities in a double bill, Palm Springs is shall we say, “all over the waterfront”. An “A” film can also be a noir. Sunset Blvd., Vertigo and Double Indemnity quickly come to mind. There are numerous “A” noirs, but On The Waterfront, as great an entertainment as it is, isn’t considered a noir. On another note, Swell Guy is never seen on any list of noirs. TCM may have shown it, but its not available for streaming or YouTube or online download platforms. If they were going to show a real noir with Sonny Tufts, then they should go with The Crooked Way. Maybe Alan Rode thinks he found a “sleeper” with that title. If you want a 40s “sleeper” then even a mediocre print of Shed No Tears with June Vincent and Wallace Ford would be a film to consider. By all accounts, Swell Guy sounds like a melodrama, but then there is such a thing as melo noirs, melodramas infected with a bit of the noir virus, so maybe that is what the festival is aiming for. However, it sounds like a real stretch to me.