Al Roberts writes a gossip column for the Daily Express. He will write about anyone and everyone as long as he gets the credit. He gets into a little difficulty with a hood named Goebel who sends Frankie to talk to Alvin. But Al has the confession of Frankie on cylinders so Frankie becomes his own bodyguard and information line. One person Al is always taking digs at is crooner Bunny Harmon, because he hates crooners. When he writes a story about Dorothy’s blessed event, he comes to regret destroying her life. But more importantly to Al and Frankie, her man may end ‘Spilling the Dirt’ permanently. –IMDb
A former journalist, Roy Del Ruth entered films in 1915 as a screenwriter and gagman for Mack Sennett. Turning to directing two years later, he made two-reel comedies with such top comedians as Billy Bevan and Harry Langdon. He began directing features in the mid-‘20s, but found his niche with Warner Bros. in the early 1930s. Del Ruth was one of the directors who turned out the kind of gritty, tightly made urban and crime dramas for which Warners became famous. He left the studio and went to MGM, where he specialized in the kind of splashy, lavish musicals that made MGM’s reputation. Del Ruth was the stereotypical studio director—with the resources and backing of a major studio he was at the top of his form and capable of turning out solid, enjoyable, technically excellent films, but once he left the environment of a major studio and struck out on his own, his fortunes waned. After leaving MGM he made a few musicals and weak comedies (he was also responsible for what is generally considered… read more