Interview with Robert Dunbar

British civilian worked in film industries in Germany and GB, 1932-1938; worked for Inter-Allied Information Service, Ministry of Information in Mexico, 1939-1944; worked as press attaché at British Embassy and editor of British Ally newspaper in Moscow, Soviet Union, 1944-1947

REEL 1 Background in Gravesend, GB, 1914-1932: father's career as journalist. Aspects of period as assistant with UFA film studios in Babelsberg, Germany, 1932-1933: role as unpaid film assistant at UFA film studios; memories of various personalities; reasons for leaving Germany when Nazis came to power, 1/1933. Aspects of period as assistant director in GB, 1933-1938: duties as assistant director at Islington Studios, Hoxton and Lime Grove Studios, Shepherd's Bush London; question of pay; story of obtaining job at London Films Productions; duties as assistant director; working on film 'Cyrano de Bergerac' with Charles Laughton; reason for film not being completed; story of holiday in West Indies and Mexico, 1938; marriage. Aspects of period with Inter-Allied Information Service, Ministry of Information in Mexico, 1939-1944: role and duties; reason for being posted to Soviet Union; journey from Mexico to Soviet Union via Egypt and Iran, 1944. Recollections of period as as press attaché at British Embassy and editor of newspaper 'British Ally' in Moscow, Soviet Union, 1944-1947: role and duties as press attaché and editor of weekly British Ally newspaper; question of censorship; circulation and popularity of newspaper; readers' reactions; contents of newspaper. REEL 2 Continues: daily life in Moscow; accommodation in Metropol Hotel; opinion of British ambassador Sir Archibald Clark Kerr; accommodation in dacha in country; commuting by train into Moscow; wife Tatiana Dunbar's employment running school; move to flat in Moscow after VE Day, 8/5/1945; duties running press club; press reading services; espionage and opinion of spies; social and cultural life; memories of film director Sergei Eisenstein; accommodation in sergeant's mess and problem of rats; story of Joseph Stalin's intervention on Sergei Eisenstein's film 'Ivan the Terrible' (1945); memories of composer Sergei Prokoviev and film director Vsevolod Pudovkin; increase in anti-Semitism in Soviet society; attitude to surveillance; friendship with Daily Worker newspaper journalist; presence of electronic bugging devices; story of visit to Leningrad; amusing story of room service; reason for closure of British Ally newspaper and return to GB, 1947. REEL 3 Continues: story of replacement journalist Archie Johnstone and his defection to Soviet Union, 1949; 'Russian Wives' incident; story of visit by Hewlett Johnstone; role as speech writer for Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery; description of VE Day celebrations in Red Square, Moscow, 8/5/1945; black market activities in Soviet security services; return to GB, 1947. Post-war life and employment: description of working on film 'The Third Man' (1949) in Vienna, Austria, 1948-1949; memories of Orson Welles; amusing story of Trevor Howard; further comments on making 'The Third Man' (1949); opinion of film director Carol Reed; story of being re-recruited by Foreign Office in London; duties and reason for leaving after a week; working for Herbert Wilcox; work as freelance filmmaker and with ACT Films Ltd.