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Lake Superior Magazine

Cutter Rescues;  Final Run, Storms of the Century

Ric Mixter’s latest releases in a series of video documentaries about the Great Lakes and its maritime activities chronicles the dramatic rescues and retirements of two of Lake Superior’s best known U.S. Coast Guard cutters: Sundew and the old Mackinaw.

Cutter Rescues, released in 2006, takes viewers through dramatic rescues made by those two familiar Lake Superior cutters as well as the original Escanaba, lost during World War II, and the Hollyhock.

While these videos do not exhibit the drama and pacing expected of a documentary master like Ken Burns, they bring the natural drama that hair-raising rescues exude. They perform the vital function of capturing, on video and in their own words, the stories of the cutter captains and crews along with the tales of those being rescued. Ric Mixter deserves great credit for his work tracking and interviewing the actual participants in these adventures, some of whom are the sole survivors and, therefore, the only remaining eye witnesses to this maritime history. Excitingly resurrected, though occasionally in tentative condition, are bits of old film footage linked to the shipwrecks.

Particularly compelling are the stories of those connected to the rescue of the foreign vessel, Nordmeer, on northern Lake Michigan – a combination Coast Guard effort between the Mackinaw and a helicopter crew. This chapter features interviews with a sailor on the Nordmeer, the pilot of the helicopter and crew members of the Mackinaw. The Mackinaw information includes images of the new Mac being launched. It weaves in the stuff that makes boatnerds happy, like mention of the 45 miles of wires on board the newest Mackinaw.

For the Sundew, the interview with Lieutenant Commander Harold Muth demonstrates both the terror and tenacity of the Coast Guardsmen. He describes searching for survivors of the Carl Bradley in seas so agitated that when you reached the top of the waves, all you saw was another wall of water. Into this sea, the Sundew headed, because the Coast Guard, as Muth and others pointed out, has an obligation always to go out, but not to come back. The Sundew chapter ends in Duluth, Minnesota, just before the final decommissioning of the vessel and its current role as a floating museum ship in the city of its birth. The interviews with crews both in its past career and at the end of its active service will intrigue and touch local maritime buffs.

Mixter has done similar documentaries in the past and it’s worth noting that his 2003 release, Final Run, Storms of the Century, remains available. It touches on the stories linked to some of the Great Lakes’ most devastating storms, including the 1905 and 1913 blasts that spanned the lakes.

– KLM

Minnesota Elements

This 30-minute interlude to the waterfalls on and near Lake Superior plays well on small or large screens, whether on a computer monitor or a widescreen television. Even just one or two of the chapters would give a refreshing exhale in a busy day.

The collaborative work of filmmaker Brian Jonas and composer Dan Schwartz has created a rarely used way to bring the north woods into people’s homes. Waterfalls in motion, which is what a video version is able to provide, shows the water volume and speed in a way that the best of still shots cannot capture. There are 10 waterfalls represented from Minnesota’s north shore; in some, like at Gooseberry Falls, the series of chutes are shown in different “chapters.” Brian Jonas does not neglect the surrounding treasures that one finds along the banks of the rivers and these falls, offering an additional element of wonder.

Dan Schwartz’ calming, smooth compositions generally create the perfect mood of relaxation with the riverside visions, although on occasion they are almost too restful against the backdrop of gushing white waterfalls.

The true charm of this collection would be to plug it into a DVD player attached to a large-screen television, grab a steaming cup of hot chocolate on the coldest of winter days then sit back and soak up these spring and summer moments with bright skies and full-running waters.

– KLM

Lake Superior: Story & Spirit

This 52-minute companion to the Mahans’ award-winning book by the same name brings the same comprehensive view of Lake Superior as their original volume. Although the DVD uses the author-photographers’ stunning still photography rather than video for its graphics, the movement within the frame and the audio combining narration by John or Ann, coupled with appropriate sounds or music, keep the motion alive.

This incarnation of the Mahans’ extensive research might be most useful within classrooms, particularly those of schools beside Lake Superior itself, evoking in students the celebration of knowledge and image that the Mahans themselves feel about this region.

The narration has the couple’s usual unapologetic environmentalist bent, but not in a brow-beating nor reckless manner that would make it inappropriate as a teaching tool.

The second part of the DVD switches from narration of fact to relation of the Mahans own circle tour of Lake Superior, weaving information about the journey into a few of the couple’s own actual adventures on their travels.

Most of their images translate wonderfully well to the DVD version, although a handful do lack the quality of the originals.

This DVD was released in the later part of 2006 and is being sold by the Mahans along with the original coffee-table book at a reduced package rate.

– KLM

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