SEATTLE — A park ranger, a filmmaker, a group of eager divers and the descendants of a missing couple were strangers four years ago when fate — and a historian — set the wheels in motion for their introduction.
Their group expanded last weekend to incorporate about 100 people who gathered excitedly in a Seattle theater to watch the story of Blanch and Russel Warren, the young couple whose death in Lake Crescent nearly 76 years ago has now forged their friendships.
Before the credits rolled on a new documentary about the Warrens, those involved in finally solving the mystery greeted each other enthusiastically and shared tidbits of their experiences in the last four years.
“I wouldn’t miss this for all the gold in Fort Knox,” said Dan Pontbriand, the former Olympic National Park Lake District ranger who played a key role in discovering the Warrens’ car and who recently transferred to a new post in Washington, D.C.
Afterward, Jim Warren, 53, of San Francisco said the film did “bring to life” the story of his grandparents that his father, Frank, discussed with him when he was young.
Documentary shown
That story is what Seattle resident and diver Dan Warter captured in his first documentary, “The Warrens: A Lake Crescent Mystery,” the 55-minute film from DCS Films that he premiered Sunday at Northwest Film Forum on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
Using a mix of black-and-white photographs, old newspaper clippings and modern-day underwater footage, Warter’s film tells of Warren history, the inquest into their disappearance, the lore of their story and more in Lake Crescent, and the recent successful efforts to find and document their resting place.
FILMMAKER DAN WARTER said he is currently seeking sponsorship for a showing of his 55-minute documentary, “The Warrens: A Lake Crescent Mystery,” in Port Angeles.
He said he has put about $1,100 of his own money into the film’s creation.
Copies of the movie on DVD can be obtained via an e-mail link through the DCS Films Web site, www.dcsfilms.com.
The film is also for sale in Seattle at Warter’s employer, Starfish Diving Inc., 600 W. Nickerson St., 206-286-6596.