INTERVIEW-From bomb silo to big screen, an anti-nuclear quest

* Disarmament film to open in Britain after U.S. run

* WMD terrorism fears fuel activists' appeal to public

* Sceptics prefer old order of nuclear deterrence

By Dan Williams

LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) - While the Cold War black comedy "Dr. Strangelove" made fans squirm with its portrayal of catastrophic nuclear brinkmanship, Bruce Blair had reason to feel the cult movie missed the real risks.

As a junior U.S. officer responsible for Minuteman ballistic missiles aimed at the Soviet Union and China, Blair was worried about sloppy safeguards and the reflex obedience of those empowered to slaughter millions from the isolation of a silo.

"I remember watching 'Dr. Strangelove' and thinking, 'They have it all wrong. You don't need to be a general.' We were only lieutenants but we could have started World War Three just as easily," he says.

Decades on, Blair is an international security expert and guiding spirit in "Global Zero", the public campaign for comprehensive nuclear disarmament that found a PR tailwind in President Barack Obama's strident anti-proliferation policies.