A fact-based genealogical thriller.
An Irish genealogist (Ged) is commissioned to research the maternal Family Tree of an American client (Tom) thought to have Irish ancestral roots. The most intriguing aspect of the project is that Tom’s maternal grandfather was said to have walked out on the family and “disappeared”, i.e. he disappears from public record databases during the 1930’s. Tom was born in 1943 so he never met his grandfather, and he doesn’t even know his name because his now-deceased mother would never speak of him after the abandonment as a child. The grandfather’s name is discovered to be Merrill, born in the Midwest of the USA.
The film plot is made up of the interweaving of two true stories; the Irish researcher’s increasingly obsessive desire to find out what happened to Merrill, and longer flashback scenes which reveal the life of Merrill and his extended family members. The research story takes many twists and turns, and involves multiple alleged suicides, the existence of a family inheritance fund worth millions in today’s money, deliberate deceit as relatives try to access the family fortune …. and the unavoidable conclusion that criminal acts were carried out, culminating in more than one murder. Crimes which were never detected in the 1930’s, or more likely, never acknowledged by the authorities in receipt of hush money.
The Irish researcher works from a home office in a sleepy rural village, using state-of-the-art computer databases linked to worldwide vital records, newspaper archives, court files, etc. New snippets of information about Merrill’s life, revealed in sequence, lead Ged along a complex journey of discovery. Confusing data suddenly starts to make sense as more facts are uncovered. Sometimes Ged’s revelations are followed by a cut to a flashback sequence to expand upon developments. At other times, the flashback drama precedes Ged’s discoveries as the researcher plays catch-up. The viewer is deliberately drawn into the intrigue and mystery of Merrill’s eventual disappearance, trying to second-guess how the saga ends.
A secondary sub-plot revolves around the jovial interest in Merrill’s disappearance shown by Ged’s Irish village neighbors. As per most close-knit communities, word travels fast regarding Ged’s curious research project, and each offers ideas for possible “endings”. These amusing cameos counterbalance Ged’s growing and alarming obsession with Merrill, and the darkness of real life events unfolding and being acted out in Midwest America 75 years ago.
The story of the creation of the family fortune is explained as we view the lives of Merrill’s relatives from the prior generation. The key character who inherits the fortune is discovered to be an illegitimate child, and as an adult this person is committed to a mental asylum. Other relatives become guardians of the legally “insane” heir and attempt to rob the estate. Suspicious deaths of benefactors occur.
Tom is surprised to learn that his grandfather Merrill had two wives. By marrying his first wife, Merrill had a tangible claim to the insane heir’s family fortune - but so did other devious in-laws. Merrill was a once-successful businessman in the 1920’s, but he lost everything during the Great Depression. He was desperate for cash to fund a socially elite lifestyle he could no longer afford.
The backdrop to the flashback scenes are Midwest cities where mobsters ruled the roost during the Prohibition. The police and newspaper editors were on the payroll of The Mob. Business protection rackets prevailed, and outwardly respectable businessmen frequented the speakeasies.
Towards the end of the story, the tale takes an incredible twist when Ged, in desperation, researches the life of Merrill’s last known girlfriend. She graduated from small-town local government typist to end up as the highly-trusted PA to one of the most powerful Statesmen in the world, working in the White House. This secretary hid a big secret. Merrill had fathered her only child, and when she passed away (in very recent times), her obituary discloses that Merrill died in 1937, by reference to an alias name which Ged has already discovered was used by Merrill during the 1930‘s. She names the death location - yet the death was never registered as per civil law. Why? What happened? And who inherited the family millions?
The film exposes the most likely outcome based upon thorough research …. as The Mob and Merrill’s enemies closed in.
*This is a synopsis of a 20,000 word screenplay outline already drafted and available for review, along with factual research documents and photos of some of the main real-life characters. Names can be changed as necessary as per Privacy Law, but most characters are deceased and have no direct descendants.
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Last update: 18-07-2011 20:36 |
| Published in : Crime |
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